Jaune Arc: Knight of Hunters
by Malluk
Summary: When the first of mankind came together to battle against the creatures of Grimm, the strongest of humanity wielded a golden sword unlike any other and cut down the darkness. But that was in the pass and since then the weapon had been left, forgotten, no one able to wield it since its original owner passed, until now. Competent Jaune,OOC, First Story, Enjoy
1. Chapter 1 - Beginning

**Heyo, Malluk here with the first chapter of Jaune Arc: Knight of Hunters, if you couldn't guess this is my Jaune Arc: Wielder of Promised Victory Story but made into a full story. I took in people's comments and tried to fix a few things with my main story; I'm glad I did the one-shot as it gave me a better idea of what I wanted to write and it pointed out some problems I had at story writing.**

 **One of the most significant problems people had was my spelling, and I apologize for that, I've always had issues with it, I did do extra English lessons when I was in my early teens, but it wasn't too bad, I've been a lot more conscious about my spelling and checked to see any mistakes, if I missed anything let me know and I'll try to do better next chapter.  
**

 **I hope you all enjoy the story to come.**

 **RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay Night is the property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting, only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Please support the original products. (p.s. Type-moon if you are seeing this, come on man give us Fate OG in the UK plz thanks)**

 **(UPDATED: 24/01/19)**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _ **A Late Beginning**_

Long ago when humanity was first born of dust, the first of humankind came together to battle against the creatures of Grimm. While it looked like a losing battle for mankind, one day some of those among them discovered a unique mineral from the earth to wield the elements. This new substance was named Dust and with-it, humanity started pushing back against the Grimm.

Not long after humanity started pushing back the darkness those with great power started to unlock a new strength found deep inside all living creatures. Unlocking this new power made those who used it monsters on the battlefield, giving the users a protective shield around them along with a special ability unique to an individual. With these new powers in hand, humanity pushes the Grimm back allowing the people to take land and flourish. With this new land, the strongest of humanities warriors became the leaders of the new world. The strongest of which was clad in silver and Royal blue armor, hair of gold, armed with a golden blade that cut through the darkness.

This warrior was made Leader of all, and so the first Kingdom was born and along with it its first King. While the first Kingdom prospered for a time, like all creations of humanity, it fell in time. But while the kingdom fell its name and the blood that ran through its crown still lives on to this day. But what of the sword, that which was named 'promised victory,' what happened to it? Well, it stayed with the family, yet none who came after could wield it. So, it sits in the family armory waiting for its next wielder, to take it up one more, to fight back the darkness and protect humanity, in its darkest time.

* * *

 **Many Years Later**

 **Town of Camelot**

In a quite large town located on the continent is Sanus, northeast of the city of Vale on the opposite side of the vast mountains that take up the northern regions, lies the city of Camelot, one of the oldest settlements in the world.

Once the ruins of a long-lost civilization it was retaken a few centuries ago by a family of warriors and has since become one of the few places outside the 4 main kingdoms that have survived with a large population around the size of mt. is due to being built right next to the mountain wall with a large keep built into it, the old city walls come out from the rock face, thus surrounding the town with multiple entrances on all sides for those traveling to and from the city. The city has both an airport and train station as it was one of the most northern towns on the continent. Being such a large size, the city has its own government and doesn't rely on any of the four kingdoms, only trading. The leaders of the town are the heads of the different districts, but the highest authority of Camelot is the head of the Warrior family that initially took the city back. This family is the Arc Family, one of the oldest on Remnant. Their name can be found throughout history books as being a family of warriors and leaders, having been presented for most of humanities battles, whether it was against the creatures of Grimm or not.

It is where our story begins in the Arc Keep where we find the two adults of the Arc family who have just returned from the hospital after the birth of the family's second set of twins, their fourth daughter and their only son.

"I know you have a job to do but, are you sure you can't rest for a few hours? You just gave birth last night. I'm sure a few hours wouldn't hurt dear." The male said in worry carrying his new son. He appeared in his late-twenties, with wavy dishwater blond hair and aqua eyes with long eyelashes. He wore a white shirt with black tie. A Black waistcoat, and a pair of black trousers.

"My dear Gawain, while it warms my heart to hear you worry, you know that as Head of the Arc family it's my job to take the little ones through the Rite of Weaponry. This is very important as it decided who their 'partner' will be for life. Not to mention they still need their names." The women replied softy carrying her new daughter. Like the man beside her she to look to be in her late twenties, with golden blond hair and Emerald eyes. She was wearing a white blouse with a blue ribbon tied around her neck and blue knee-length skirt with black leggings. She had her hair tied in a bun with a blue bow, a fringe over her forehead and 2 bangs framing her face going down to her shoulder.

These were Artoria and Gawain Arc, Artoria being the blood heir to the family and the current head of the family with Gawain marrying into the family after the two were partners in huntsmen school. They had been married for 5 years now both being 30 years old. They got married after dating for a few years when they got together during their time at school, after marrying they moved into the old family keep with Artoria's parents. Not long after marrying that had their first children, a set of twin girls. 5 years later Artoria's parents passed away having defended the town from a large grim wave. While heartbroken Artoria and Gawain found some hope from the event, that being their third daughter. Now a year later they had another set of twins added to the family and were on their way to the family armory to have the two's weapons picked out.

"Mom, Dad!" "Mommy, Daddy!" "Mother, Farther."

Three different young voices called out followed by three light sets of footsteps. Soon three young girls gathered around the two adults trying to get a look at their new siblings.

"Come on showing us already!" the first child said, she was around 6 years old and had long wild blond hair tied in a high ponytail with a red bobble, and she had emerald eyes like her mother. She was wearing a white vest with red trimming and blue shorts. This was the 1st Arc child, Mordred Arc.

"Yes! I also wish to see our new family members!" the second followed. She was almost identical to her mother, but her fringe and bangs were straighter than her mother's. She was wearing a simple red dress. This was the 2nd Arc sister and Mordred's twin, Nero Arc.

"Can I see them too?" the last voice asked. This was the 3rd Arc sister, but unlike the rest of the family, she looked entirely different. She was around 4 years old and had pink hair tied in twin tails, she had golden eyes and was wearing a blue dress. The most significant difference between her and the rest of the family were the two fox ears on her head and the tail swinging behind her. This was Tamamo Arc the only Faunus of the family.

During the Grimm attack that took the Arc Grandparents, Tamamo was abandoned by her parents in the chaos. This was due to having two Faunus traits, something that is looked down upon, even among other Faunus. Artoria had found her alone when wandering around in her grief over losing her parents; her motherly nature caused her to be momentary forget about their death in worrying over the abandoned child. When Tamamo told her that her parents had abounded her Artoria was very angry, being the mother of two she could not imagine leaving her children.

Upon seeing Tamamo break down crying, she offered her a place in the Arc family. Tamamo was at first confused as to why she would want her to join, but Artoria just smiled and said in a voice full of love, "An Arc always tries to help those in need and what you need is a family that loves you, if you come with me I can promise you all the love you will ever need, and an Arc never goes back on their word." Since that day she has been a part of the family, she quickly became friendly with her 2 new sisters and her new father. It had been a year since the incident, and she could not be happier.

The two parents could only laugh at their three daughter's excitement. "I'm happy your all excited to see your new siblings, but we have to do the right of weaponry first so that we can finally name the two first." Their mother said smiling at the three girls as there all made their way into the family Armory.

The Armory was located deep in the Family Keep going into the mountain. The walls lined with hundreds of different weapons ranging from swords to bows, maces to war hammers.

"What is the Rite of Weaponry?" Tamamo asked confused never having to do it when she joined the family.

Gawain answered his daughter's question while placing his new son along with Artoria putting their daughter on a alter in the middle of the armory. "You see, when an Arc is born into the family, they are brought here soon after they are born to have a weapon picked out for them. This is done by the head of the family who connects with the new-borns aura and uses that to select a weapon for them." He explained, getting all his three of his daughters' attention. "When a weapon is selected the weapon will be the best suited for them and will be the only weapon that works right for them, they can train with other weapons, but they will always have an uneasy feeling with any other weapon than the one that chose them." He explained as he stepped back from the altar with his daughters, Artoria standing in front of it getting ready to before the ceremony.

"But what does it have to do with naming them?"

"When a weapon is selected the new-born is named after the former wielder in hopes of continuing the weapon's legacy. Now hush and let you mother concentrate." He finished shushing his daughters to allow his wife to do the Rite.

Artoria took a breath and placed a hand on each child, and focused her aura.

 _We are the hand of that guide our people._

 _We steel our souls and rise by our blood,_

 _We have created over a thousand Legends._

 _While Death may take our bodies,_

 _Our names do not fade._

 _We withstood pain to create the Legacy that we uphold,_

 _And by our Weapons, our Legacy lives on,  
_

 _So, by my right as Head of the Arc Family, let our Legacy be reborn._

When she finished her aura, gold in color, traveled into the two children causing them to glow as well, the girl a royal blue and the boy a pure white. Their glow then gathered and flew into the armory to pick a weapon. Gawain followed the two lights, and after a minute they both split up, deciding to support his daughter's first it came to a battle flag hanging on the wall.

The pole was around 7 feet long with light brown coloring. At the end was a small steel spike at one end, two grip guards halfway up the shaft and at the end the head of a spear about 1 meter long. The part that made it a battle flag was, well the flag, taking up1.5 meters of the pole from the spearhead, the flag was around 3 meters in length and was white with gold design and was V shape at the end coming into the flag. On the flag was the family emblem as well as another design.

'A flower?' Gawain thinks but can't tell, he took the flag and brought it back to his wife who makes it from him. Upon examining the weapon, she smiled.

"Luminosité Eternelle is the weapon's name, so from today forth she will be known as Jeanne Arc the 3rd." she declared placing the weapon near her daughter. She turned to her husband, "Please go retrieve the second weapon."

"Of course, dear."

"MOM, DAD LOOK!" one of their daughters calls out, they both turn to see Jaune's ball returning back to him. This shocked and confused those that saw it happen.

"Mommy, Daddy, was that supposed to happen?" Nero asked confused. Her parents could not answer, this had never happened before! An Arc always got a weapon during the Rite.

"Dear, what does this mean?" Gawain asked in slight fear, thinking something was wrong.

"I-I don't know…" Artoria said in shock; she had never expected this to happen, she had no idea how to fix it or even if it could be fixed.

"Well we can't just leave him nameless, we will have to come up with something and give him a weapon in the meantime," Gawain said, pulling himself back together.

"Yes… Yes, we do, don't we… how about… Jaune, like his sister's name, to help them stay close." She thought quickly, still trying to think of what went wrong.

"I'm ok with that, and for a weapon how about your Grandfather's sword and shield, they aren't apart of the armory since it's was always kept out, he could use that for now until we figure it out." He replied.

"Crocea Mors? Yes, that could work since it's doesn't have a Legacy tied to it yet so it should be fine…" she finished picking up her two babies, hugging them close.

"Jeanne, Jaune, welcome to the family." She said her voice full of love and slight worry for her only son. She will have to look into what could have happened, she just hoped she could fix it before it had an effects Jaune's life.

* * *

 **15 Years Later**

It had been 15 years since Jaune and Jeanne were born and a few things have happened. The first is that 3 more children have entered the Arc family.

First was 2 years after the 2nd twins' birth, Artoria was once again pregnant and had another daughter who was named Mash Arc the 2nd, but along with her, another girl adopted the same day.

Mash unlike all the other Arc children was not blond but had pink hair like Tamamo and purple eyes. No one knew why this happened, but Tamamo saw it as a connection to her new sister. The other new addition was another girl with blond hair and emerald eyes like most of the family, yet was not Mash's biological twin. This was Atalanta Arc, the second Faunus of the family.

On the day Mash was born another child was born as well this child, however, was born of a Human/Faunus relationship and like, Tamamo had two Faunus traits, a set of cat ears and a tail. The mother, who was human, not long after having the child disappeared in the night, leaving the new-born alone, doctors and nurses suspect the child may have been an accident, and the mother didn't want to deal with the implication of having a Faunus child as Human/Faunus relation are not very well liked. She was placed next to Mash in the new-born area, and upon learning her fate Artoria and Gawain decided to take her as well. She was named Atalanta.

One shocking event was when Mash was going through her Rite of Weaponry, Atalanta also glowed along with Mash. It turned out she had Arc blood in her somewhere down her mothers' line, yet the family had no way of knowing how many other Arc were out there. The family decided not to bother searching for Atalanta's mother since she abandoned her child they had no wish to welcome her into the family and with that Atalanta was fully excepted into the family.

The last birth was 6 years later with the newest addition to the family being another girl. Artoria Arc the 6th or Lily as the family calls her. She shares the same name as their mother due to the weapon she bonded with having the same well-known owner as her mother's.

When Jaune and Jeanne were 8 years old, they had started to learn how to fight with their weapon. While many would see starting the children's training at a young age as immoral for the Arc's, it was natural to do, as the bond between them and their weapon is essential and that learning young allows them to have a better understanding and connection to their weapon.

While Jeanne was doing well with Luminosité Eternelle, Jaune was not doing as well with his weapon, Crocea Mors.

While his sister had taken to lance combat very well like most Arc's do with their weapons, for young Jaune while doing ok with the long sword/Shield combo, couldn't quite get the hang of his weapons.

With the sword he did ok, yet it didn't sit well in his hands, he felt uncomfortable holding it like he was wearing clothes not quite the right size and with the shield, it felt utterly unnatural to keep it, he preferred to hold his sword with both since it gave him a better grip.

A part of Jaune wanted to toss the shield, but another knew he was going to need it. While his family at first tried to hide the fact he never got a weapon they were unsuccessful as many of the townsfolk knew and gossiped.

When Jaune learned this, he went to do research on his 'weapon' finding that it belonged to his Great-Grandfather in the Great War nearly 80 years ago. At first, the boy was confused as to why it wasn't apart of the Armory but learned that he wasn't originally an Arc. The man married into the family at the end of the war after an event called 'The Arc Defiance,' when Jaune tried to look into the event he couldn't find anything in the family library when he asked his father Gwain told him to wait till he's older to find out.

Ever since finding out about the weapon he has always had a sense of longing for his sisters as they all had their weapons, apart from Tamamo since she didn't have any Arc blood in her. This led to him having a close bond with his elder sister as he didn't feel judged by her for not having a weapon.

Tamamo also grew close to Jaune due to him making her feel apart of the family when she was adopted by the family she always felt like an outcast. Even when her new "twin" sisters were born, the fact one had similar hair and the other being a Faunus helped but the truth Atalanta had Arc blood and got a weapon knocked her back down.

It was Jaune who went to her noticing her drifting away from the family and would crawl up to her and hug her and spending time with her. He truly made her feel a part of the family.

The rest of his family tried not to show it, but he could see the pity in their eyes for not being like them, even his younger sister gave him that look recently after starting to understate the importance of their weapons.

He hated the looks they gave him; it made him feel weak. It due to this that his babied more as well.

His Eldest Sister, Mordred was the hardest on him when it came to training. She's a prodigy when it comes to combat even at 14 was facing people in their first years of the 4 big academies. She actually finished the local primary combat school, Grail Academy, early and is took the extra years to focus on her combat skill. Most Arc's strive to end by 16 so they can spend a year focusing and bonding with their weapons to have greater combat prowess, but his oldest sister wanted to be better.

As the oldest child, she was next in line to become Head of the family and idolized their Mother, seeing her as the greatest warrior and Leader on Remnant and strives to surpass her and become an even better Head of the Arc line.

Jaune, in turn, idolized his older sister, what to be just as strong and driven as her. When he told her this, she laughed and ruffled his hair.

"If you can ever hit me in a fight, I'll acknowledge you as a warrior, K little bro?"

Since that day he had been pushing himself to catch up yet is having difficulty doing so.

For his 2nd oldest sister, Nero, while not as gifted in combat as her twin, it was in other areas that she blossoms, mainly in the Arts. She took significantly to music whether it's playing, singing or dancing. She would often have Jaune learn along with her as a dance or singing partner, teaching him the joys of taking breaks and doing things other than fighting and training.

While at first, he wasn't a fan, after a while he started to enjoy himself, learning how to dance and play an instrument from her, while his sister would outshine anyone partnered with her Jaune enjoys spending time with her.

His 3rd Sister, Tamamo, is who he spends most of his free time with, learned how to cook from her, spends time cuddling together and working on his sister's semblance. She had forgone any weaponry and instead focuses on Dust and Aura Arts being one of the only dust users in the family.

She manly learned this from the family babysitter who would look after them when their parents were out on business. She had left to become a Huntress a few years ago at Beacon, and she would write now and again to the family to let them know how she is doing. She like Tamamo had a very versatile semblance that she would rely on in combat and Tam had taken to learn from her personally when she became a teacher, continuing her own studies on Aura and her semblance.

His Twin Jeanne was his own mother hen; she would continuously move baby Jaune to the point he would actively hide from her. While he could admire her caring nature, it would usually result in her trying to force him to quit his training as she watches him push himself to try and 'catch up.' She tries to convince him that he can take his time but seeing her succeed while he was falling behind makes her sound condescending to him. He loves her dearly, but she needs to lay off him a bit.

Mash was the quietest of all his sisters, unlike most of his sisters; Mash is just content with blending in and not standing out. Jaune usually has to spend time with her actively, she tries to brush him off, stating that "she's not worth all the time he spends with her" but Jaune knows she enjoys his presence.

One thing unique about Mash is her weapon and semblance are 100% defensive based, being a shield and fortification set. She isn't a fan of fighting but always tries to protect others. It was Mash that helped Jaune with using his shield when she came of age, while he's still stiff and unnatural he does better than earlier in his life thanks to her. She doesn't like to see Jaune hurt but seeing how hard he pushes himself had led to her having a certain admiration for her only brother. She had light pink hair in a shoulder-length bowl cut with her fringe covering one of her eyes.

Atalanta was the second Faunus to join the family, but unlike Tam who joined at around 3 years old she was a new-born so had no connection to her old family. She was a lot sterner then her 'twin' and had more no-nonsense personality. The girl seemed to have something against males, but no one really knew why. The family suspected being surrounded by strong female and only really one strong male she sees men as naturally weaker. She tends to ignore Jaune most of the time but easily gets mad at him over small issues. Growing up she also took to nature and liked to spend time in the forest around the town. Growing up her hair grew out, and she started dyeing her fringe green, her favorite color.

Tamamo likes to joke that the two twins have a 'brother complex' which both denied. Mash only admires her brothers drive, but Tam made her out to have a liking for the 'knight in shining armor' type, something she can't deny. For Atalanta, she vividly denies liking her brother, but Tam just stated she was a 'tsundere,' Atalanta did attack her sister at that point, but all could see the blush on her face at the time.

His final sister was Artoria the 6th or Lily as the family calls her as she's the little family flower. She was a little bundle of joy in the family, Jaune was the one to look after her the most due to his sisters being either too young or busy like his parents who are two of the leaders of Camelot. She tries to imitate her oldest sister and mother in their seriousness but is easy to tease and turn her into a blushing mess.

Now was Jaune and Jeanne's 15 birthday, the family had been celebrating it together, but for Jaune, it was a somber experience. Usually, when an Arc turns 15, they would start full training with their weapon and study their family history to be ready for when they studied for their hunter license. But for Jaune, he would not be able to take the extra combat lessons for one simple reason. He had not unlocked his Aura.

While most families unlock their children's aura and if not, a teacher would at around 13 years of age, for an Arc one's aura is unlocked when they start their training with their weapon. The link between the two is key to unlocking it when someone unlocks it themselves they tend to have more than others. This is due to when someone else unlocks someone's aura they push their own aura into a person, this indirectly costs a person a portion of their own aura due to the aura pushing the different aura out of the body, unlocking their own but losing some in the prosses. Arc's however do not allow this in part due to tradition and in part to the family having a semi-inherited semblance that usually cost a lot of aura, so cutting one's aura down was frowned upon.

The family was currently holding a party when Jaune had decided to break away from the festivities to go for a walk around the family home to think about his future. Jaune was now 15, he now looked like a younger version of his father but with golden hair like his mother and his eyes are a more Azure color than his father's Aqua. His was wearing a plain orange t-shirt and black jeans.

He had always dreamed of being a warrior like the rest of his family but just couldn't keep up even with all his training, while compared to his sister his hand to hand skills were the best except for his oldest sister, it could not carry him in battle, without aura he stood no chance against his sisters. Recently his youngest sister had started training, and she was already giving him the run around with her weapon, she had even unlocked her aura already, the youngest to do so out of all his sisters with Mordred being the former holder, unlocking hers at 10 years old with most unlocking they're at around 12 just before going to combat school. Lily had unlocked hers at 8, 2 months after she started training.

He could not help but think he could never be a hero like he wanted. He looked up to all his sisters in one way or another and could not help but compare himself to them. Looking at how strong his family has had him feeling like he didn't belong at all, while he could be considered strong to a civilian, to a huntsman, he was no better than a first-year in primary combat school. Aura may be mainly used for its defensive capabilities, but it does give a massive boost to one's physical abilities as well. A 12-year-old with aura could easily outrun a 20-year-old without getting exhausted due to the increase fo stamina, and the amount of force one expels from the body.

Jaune was so deep in thought that he had not noticed he arrived at the Armory, he would usually come here to daydream about what it would be like to have a weapon, but currently, it made him feel bitter. Turning to leave he felt a slight pull on his body. Confused by this he tried to ignore it but the further he walked the hard the pull was. Giving into the sensation, he traveled deeper into the armory.

* * *

 **With the Arc Family**

Back with the rest of the family, they had noticed Jaune had left and could help but talk about how he was acting recently. His drive had started to take a drop leading up to his 15 birthday, and when he was told he would be starting his extra training like his twin, the hope in his eyes had finally gone out, it had begun to dim over the years but now he seemed dead inside and was starting to act colder to the family. Not mean or cold-hearted in any way just his smile no longer lit up the room and he was more sluggish in his movements.

"I'm worried about Brother, he hasn't been himself recently," Mash said breaking the silence that had fallen over the family after Jaune had left. She was in her second year at Grail Academy along with her sister. Mash had on her casual clothing that was a black thigh length smart dress which had a white collar and a red tie on, black legging with a white and grey zip-up hoodie over the top. She had light pink hair in a shoulder-length bowl cut with her fringe covering one of her eyes that were also covered by a pair of oval glasses.

"He has been skipping our spars lately, coming up with excuses not to go…" Jeanne replied, she had seen her twin start to distance himself from her a lot recently, the two would usually train together, but she would rarely see him now, only when they eat together. She was finishing alongside Jaune at Grail academy to finish early next year as well as start her weapon training but found out he would not be joining her, something she was sad about. Jeanne had let her hair grow out and had it in a long braid down her back. She was wearing a white sleeveless shirt with a blue tie on, blue short shorts and blue thigh high stockings.

"Indeed, even I can't seem to break his brooding, it really ruins our cuddle time now that his all mood," Tamamo said with a pout, she was 19 now and was currently working under a hunter as an apprentice to get her hunter license. She had her pink hair in twin tails and was in a white tube top, black mini skirt that had a pink frill and matching thigh high stockings. Over her head, she wore a white and pink striped hoodie sipped up to just below her chest.

"We can't really blame him. He has spent so long trying to stand level with us in combat, but without a weapon, our little knight would not be able to be like the rest of us," Nero stated, being 21 she was in her final year of Beacon Academy with her twin, her sister had won the recent Vytal festival with a landslide victory. She had her hair in a braid with a red ribbon and was wearing a red thigh length dress with a frilly skirt that was trimmed in black.

"Whatever, if he can't be a fighter he should give up now and focus on something else like being a doctor or something. Without a weapon of his own there's no way he'll be a huntsman." Mordred waved off, dismissing her brothers' blight. She had her hair like she always did but was wearing a white tube top with red trim and a pair of jean short shorts.

"How could you say that? You know how much it means to him to be a huntsman, a hero like he sees all us becoming!" Nero turned on her twin with a glare that Mordred returned. They both knew he wanted to be like them when it came to combat, Mordred more so since he looked up to her.

"That's enough you two, no fighting on his and Jeanne's birthday." Their father said. He too felt sad for his only son. He had hoped to bond with the only other male of the family, but something always came up with his job as the head of the local huntsmen. He feared Jaune saw it as him avoiding him, the two would talk and hang out when he could, but he didn't have as good a bond as he wished for with his son.

"I agree with elder sister Mordred, he should just give up and stop wasting his and our time with his fantasies," Atalanta said coldly. She was in a white pullover hoody with a dark green skirt.

"Atalanta!? How could you say that about Big Brother!?" Mash shouted at her 'Twin' who just scoffed and looked away.

A smirk made its way onto Tamamo's face something Atalanta noticed, she knew it meant she was going to mess with her. "Maybe our little kitten wants her big brother to spend his time focusing on her instead of on training~~" she teases with glee.

"WHAT?! NO!" Atalanta screamed, her face going red as she sent her sister a glare.

"Oooo, I see. Well that no reason to crush Big Brother's dreams." Mash followed, looking at her twin in disappointment.

"I DO NOT LIKE HIM!"

The family could help but laugh at her expense, the mood lightening with the family's banter.

"Do you think Big Brother will be ok Mommy?" the youngest asked turning to the eldest female who had been quiet for the discussion. She was in a cream colored dress with a white skirt underneath, black tights with a black bow to tie up her hair and around her neck. She was currently sitting between her Mother and Father looking up at her Mother.

Artoria didn't answer straight away, ever since Jaune's new behavior came up, she had been thinking of her only son's life so far. When he first was born, she was so happy to finally have a son. It was rare for males to be born into the Arc family for some reason. When he didn't get a weapon, she was scared something had happened to him, that something had gone wrong with the birth, yet nothing came up, he was fully healthy with no problems.

Over the years she's watched her little knight fight to try and prove he was useful to the family. Taking up all his sister chores to give them more time with their weapon along with training himself. Playing with his younger sisters and allowing his older to drag him around, those mainly being Nero's dancing and Tamamo's teasing him, he always tried to make the family happy. She could see him develop his inferiority complex with every passing year his sisters got stronger, it seems with Lily now being able to face him and being nearly half his age has finally broken his spirit and it crushed her inside. This had never happened before, so she had no idea on how to help him cope with his issues so in the end she just left him to himself, something she is disappointed in herself for doing.

She turns to look her youngest in the eyes, it was like looking at a mirror of her younger self or at a younger Mordred. A smile makes its way onto her face seeing the concern in her eyes for her brother. All his Daughters care for their brother, even if a few try not to show it. "I'm sure he'll be fine little one, his just having a hard time at the moment." She spoke softly to her.

"I don't know Mommy… he always looks so sad, even when he smiles, they always feel sad." Lily spoke sadly looking down into her lap, the family had gone silent when Artoria started talking and hearing Lily the mood went somber again.

"Lily…" her Father started, "Jaune's not quite like the rest of us… his been trying to be like us but he can't and most likely won't be like us, no matter how hard he tries…"

"But… his always looking out for us… is there anything we can do to help him?" She asked a bit of hope in her voice. The family didn't respond as her eyes scanned over them, looking for any one of them to answer her prayer.

Artoria was the one to answer her. "I'm sorry, my little flower, I don't think we- "she was cut off as a massive burst of energy exploded from nearby. Her, Gawain, Mordred and Nero, and Tamamo were the only ones to react, being a fully or nearly fully trained huntsmen, Tamamo also responded due to specializing in aura, all of them going ridged.

"What the hell is that?" Mordred asked, confusing her younger sisters.

"I don't know sister but its definably Aura based…" her twin answered turning to face deepening into the home with a frown on her face.

"Mommy? Daddy? What is it?" Lily asked as the two stood up.

Her Father answered with a stern expression, "We just felt a large output of Aura deeper in the Keep, but what could it be…. The only ones in the keep are the family and the only one not her is…"

"JAUNE!" Artoria yelled speeding off to find her son, the rest of the family racing after her to see what could have happened to the only other male Arc.

* * *

 **With Jaune a few minutes earlier**

He had been following the pull for a while now as he was heading deeper and deeper into the Armory. He had no clue it was this big, but he thinks he read that one of his ancestors built it as a vault for all the family's treasures but later was changed into an armory due to all the weapons it had inside. There were hundreds of weapons lining the walls, all with a history to them.

'Yet none of them are mine…' Jaune thought bitterly, seeing so many different weapons just showed him how unlucky he was not to get one. He was about to turn back and head back to his family, but something caught his eye, at the back of the next hallway. The pull was now at it strongest, "I'm close…"

Heading down the last corridor he came to an old alter, this was the deepest he had gone into the armory and given the dust he was the first in a while. On the altar was a blue cloth that was coving something. Feeling the pull come from whatever was underneath the fabric, Jaune stepped closer and pulled it off, what he saw was the most beautiful weapon he had ever seen.

While his current weapon, Crocea Mors was a simple long sword with a blue handle and a golden cross-guard with a white sheath that transformed into a shield, in front of him on the altar was another longsword, this one, however, was slightly longer and broader. While not big enough to be a two-handed weapon, it looked like it would work best wielded with both hands.

Like his current sword, this one too had a blue handle and a golden cross-guard, but unlike Crocea Mors, the handle was slightly longer and didn't have much of a pommel, just a flat golden cap at the end of the handle. The cross-guard was a simple golden rectangle in an arc with some blue design and strange symbols. The blade was longer and slightly wider then Crocea Mors and was a steel color, but on the face of the sword was symbols that looked like the same kind of writing on the cross-guard writing but he didn't know what they meant.

He was mesmerized by the sword, he couldn't take his eyes off it, he felt something deep within him call out for the sword in front of him. He didn't notice himself reaching out for it until his hands wrapped around the hilt. Holding the blade in front of himself he could help but feel it felt right, like a piece of himself had been returned to him after so long he forgot he lost it. Looking at the sword he couldn't find any dirt on it, it must have been sitting here for years, yet it seems like it was polished an hour ago. Looking at his reflection in the blade he noticed his eyes glowing, confused at first something clicked in his mind, a warmth started to fill him, a smile making its way onto his face as he finally understood what was happening and what this was, what he was holding.

Taking a breath and closing his eyes he focused on the sword in his hands. Soon information came to his head about it, who once wielded it, how to use it and most importantly, its name. When he thought of the swords name his dormant aura burst from his body in a white glow, illuminating the room like a megawatt lightbulb. After the light died down he opened his eyes, they were slightly glowing as he looked at his aura slightly glowing around him. He felt amazing having is Aura finally unlocked, he finally felt complete, he eyes once again fell on the sword, HIS sword.

"Jaune!" he heard his Mother yell as she and the rest of his family came around the corner behind him when they saw him they froze. He was still slightly glowing with Aura and was holding a sword in his hands.

When Artoria looks at the sword in her son's hands, her heart stopped completely, unable to believe what she was seeing. "Jaune… is that…" she asked unable to finish in disbelieve at the weapon in his hands.

"Jaune's got a weapon…" Nero also said in disbelieve.

"No way…" Her twin could help but add, looking wide-eyed at their brother.

"Wait..." Gawain started, eyes focused on his sword, his eyes widen when he noticed what it was. "Dear is that what I think it is?"

She could make only a slight nod in response before she could gather herself and answer. "Yes… that's- "

"Excalibur" she was cut off by Jaune who fully turned to his family a huge smile on his face, "it's called Excalibur, and it's my weapon."

No one said anything at this, this would change everything for the family, and for Jaune, it was the moment he had been waiting for his whole life.

* * *

 **2 YEARS LATER**

It had been 2 years since Jaune got Excalibur and much had changed. First was that Jaune unlocked his Aura as soon as he retrieved the weapon and threw himself into training, he had spent years behind all his sister and needed to catch up as fast as possible. And catch up he did. He knew the basics from years of using Crocea Mors but now the blade felt natural, it sat in his grip perfectly, and he couldn't imagine using another weapon.

He started spending every waking hour training with his new sword even Mordred thought he was pushing it, and she was a fighting fanatic. This caused most of the family to worry for him and after he collapsed one time they forced him to slow down and start to pace himself. At first, he was unhappy but relented under all his sisters pleads, but swore he would catch up and surpass all of them one day.

With 2 years of intense training he had finally caught up with his twin sister, while Jaune's win/loss rate with her was still terrible he had finally started to win a few spars. Most of the family were amazed by Jaune's growth and knew if he kept improving at that rate he was the boy would surpass even his Father by the time he gets his hunter's license.

Not all good news came with him getting his weapon. However, some conflict has happened between him and his eldest sister Mordred. While she was happy for Jaune getting a weapon, seeing him catch up quickly was made her feel all the work she put in to be the strongest be overshadowed by her brother's rapid growth. This came to a head recently with something changing in the family, one that broke the camels back for Mordred and further strained the two's relationship.

We find Jaune Arc sitting at a table with one of his many sisters. Across from him is his older sister Tamamo, dressed in her usual attire. On the table in front of the two is Excalibur wrapped in cloth with a paper tag that has written all over it.

Close to the sister is a pot of ink with an ink brush next to it ready for use. Jaune was currently staring at his sister waiting for her to get started on what he had asked her to do, but she once again is stalling his plan for her own amusement given her slight smirk.

"You're sure you want to go through with this Jaune?" Jaune's 3rd oldest sister asks for what feels like the 100 times, He was getting sick of her asking and just wanted her to get on with it so she could stop worrying. The rest of his family was out at the moment, getting supplies for his going away party that afternoon, so he only had now to do this. He was off to Vale and Beacon Academy to become a huntsman in the morning. With his family's reputation and his Mother and Father's recommendation he was accepted without much trouble, but given what he planned to do he knew they wouldn't let him go, so he's doing this without their and the ray of the family's understanding.

The only reason he could get his sister to Arc promise not to tell was through a few bribes of her favorite snacks and favors to cash in later, the two were also quite close as well, even more than with his twin in Jaune's case. So, her stalling is putting him on edge knowing the rest of their family will return soon he didn't want to waste time with his sisters' games.

"Sigh... yes Tam for the last time, I want to do this, and if you ask one more time, I will spray you with a water bottle." He says with a mischievous smirk on his face as he looked at his sister who pouts back at him with her fox ears going flat against her pink hair, her tail swinging irately behind her.

"Alright, alright I get it no need to be a meanie, I'm just saying this is a stupid idea and that if anything bad happens, it's your own fault for doing this so don't blame me." She huffed back seeing her words fall on deaf ears. She huffed out a sight knowing that her little brother was doing something stupid but could see why he was doing it, stupid male pride she thought along with thick-headedness.

A smirk made its way onto her face which did not go unnoticed by Jaune. "If I do this I expect you to help me with my new book you know~~" she giggled, Jaune knowing about his sister's books since he was forced to 'proofread' them, blushed in embarrassment at remembering that they were like, causing her to laugh out loud.

"Do I really have to help with that…."

"Yep!"

"And there's nothing I could do instead?"

"Nope!"

"*sigh*, Fine…"

She giggled at his sad expression "You know~~, if you go to Beacon there are bound to be plenty of beautiful girls around~~. Maybe you could date one or two of them and give me some ideas for my next book~~."

"Tam?! Semblance. NOW!" Jaune snapped.

"Ugh, fine!" she sighed again getting serious looking back at her only brother.

"Give me your hand then, wrist facing up" she reached out to him expecting with one hand while taking the writing brush in the other.

He did, giving his hand up as she got to work first dipping the brush in ink next to her on the table, and started writing in his wrist, after finishing she placed the brush down and started pushing her aura into the words. "Focus your Aura into the words and place you had on the blade now." She commands Jaune who followed her orders, soon he felt a significant drain on his Aura as the sword started to glow after a minute and a bright light the tag and writing on his wrist were glowing a dark blue.

This was his sister's Semblance, Words of Power, any word she writes along with enough aura will activate what the word means, for example, if she wrote the word soft on a piece of paper and put a bit of aura into it the word, the paper would become soft to the touch. Tam can do just about anything given enough time to describe what effects she wants and enough aura to fuel to activate her semblance. The seal she uses was to 'lock' his sword away with the 'key' being on his wrist, Jaune did this to stop the link he had with Excalibur, while Jaune could still train with it he could not use it as effectively in battle unless he broke the seal.

With that final done Jaune breathed a sigh of relief, now he just had to worry about getting to Vale without his family noticing. He'd already had Crocea Mors ready to go. Hopefully, he'd have some skill with it after a few years of putting it away. With it being a long sword like Excalibur he hopes the family curse will be lightened up on him now he has his weapon, if not the shield will at least give him more protection.

His sister seeing his reaction couldn't help but giggle, he was so scared about the others finding out, it reminded her of him when he was little, doing his best to cover for his sisters when Mother and Father knew something happened and he took the blame. He always did want to be a hero, his sister's own Knight in shining armor, protecting them, even when he couldn't. Thinking back to the times he stood up for her when people called her more than an animal due to having two traits, he would yell at them and get beat up for stepping in. It was one of the reasons she trained herself even if she didn't have to. Remembering her brother's hardships brought her sadness when he couldn't fight and become the hero he dreamed of being. How sad he was back them but still put on a smile for them.

"Sis? Tamamo? Are you ok?" She snapped out of her thoughts and her eyes connected with her brother's. "You spaced out there for a minute, you alright?" He asks with slight concern in his voice he noticed his sister's sad, downcast ears.

"No no I'm fine little Brother, just worried is all. You know how much harder it will be to become a huntsman without Excalibur, you spent so many years feeling envious of all our sisters because of their weapons, even if I don't have one I'm not a blood Arc so the Rite of Weaponry doesn't apply to me, but you spent so many years yearning to be like our sisters." She said in a melancholy voice. Part of the reason the two are so close is due to that Tamamo not having a weapon.

"And when you finally get your chance, you decide to make it harder for yourself just to prove a point!" Throughout her rant Tam was getting more and more heated, "It's just... I don't want you to get killed just because of what Elder Sister Mordred said..." she finished look down at her feet, hugging herself. She may be helping, but it still didn't sit well with her, she likes to joke and tease and not take things seriously, but she cares deeply for her family. They took her in when she was abandoned, and owes them her life, watching her younger siblings grow up was the happiest times of her life she did sometimes feel as though she was intruding on the family, but Jaune always tried to include her, making her feel welcome, and it warms her heart.

Jaune, seeing his sisters' distress can't help but smile sadly know while she may joke and laugh she relies heavily on her connection to their family. He pulls her into a hug that she quickly returns and starts petting her head, she always enjoyed his petting. "I know what I'm doing is stupid, but I need to try at least and see how far I can go on my own." He said trying to ease his sister's worry.

Tamamo just leaned into her brother enjoying his hug and petting of her ears, he always could make her feel the most comfortable. "Just... just promise me if it gets too hard, or if something happens that it's too much for you and your team to handle, that you'll breach the seal and not hold back. Promise me Jaune. Promise me on the Arc name." She finished, looking deep into her brother's eyes, pleading for him to agree.

Jaune after hearing his sister's plea, he couldn't help but smile at her, knowing that she cared for him so much warmed his heart. Her puppy dog eyes pleading also help as well, damn them, he may have built some resistance to them over the years but given how serious she is and the way her ears dropped down made his will crumble before her. "I promise, if things get bad I'll use my sword, no excuse, and an Arc- "

"Never goes back on their word." They finish together, giggling and chuckling together finishing their hug. "Thank you, Brother." "No problem Sis." They smile at each other.

Just then the front door opened with someone yelling they were home signaling the rest of the families return. They smiled at one another before going to help with any of the shopping bags, they still had a party to get to.

* * *

 **And that's the first chapter of -, it was a lot longer then I planned, but I hope you enjoyed it. There was a lot of exposition in this chapter, but I felt I had t get it all down before going into canon next chapter. I plan to have each of his sisters show up later in the story and will be having my own stories between each cannon volume as well.**

 **Shout out to the people who gave me advice in the review (even the mean ones), they helped me plan out how I wanted to take this story going forward and an extra shout out to JauneArc354 and Guikoi for the private messages, they were really, and I thank you for your support.  
**

 **I originally planned to start at the rooftop scene and have Jaune's and Pyrrha's interaction be about his past, but the more I added it became too much just to add in the middle of a volume so I'm starting from the beginning and it looks to flow better in my head. Hopefully, it will.  
**

 **When this goes up, I will also be putting a poll on to pick who Jaune will be romantic with so go vote now, will be up until the end of the first volume so 6 or 7 more chapters. I already have a guild line up to volume 3 on what I want to write, I just have to get it down.**

 **Here are the looks of the Arc Family.**

 **Arc Family Armor/Clothing/Look.  
**

 **Artoria**

 **Armor: Lancer Stage 1**

 **Casual: Saber Casual**

 **Gawain**

 **Armor: Saber Stage 1**

 **Casual: British Waiter without the apron, with a plain shirt and tie**

 **Mordred**

 **Armor: Saber Stage 1**

 **Casual: Mordred Casual**

 **Nero**

 **Armor: Saber Stage 2**

 **Casual:** **Nero's Crimson Modem Clothes**

 **Tamamo**

 **Armor: Caster Stage 1**

 **Casual: Spring Casual**

 **Mash**

 **Armor: Shielder Stage 3 (no sword)**

 **Casual: Mash Casual**

 **Atalanta**

 **Armor: Archer Stage 2**

 **Casual: Heroic Spirit Travel Outfit**

 **Lily**

 **Armor: Saber Lily Stage 1**

 **Casual: Saber Lily Stage 3**

 **Jaune**

 **Armor Saber/Proto Stage 2**

 **Casual: Saber/Proto Casual (with orange t-shirt)**

 **I might make another 'story' to keep the Arc Family information, stuff like; looks, weapons, semblances, and personalities, if people would like that, let me know if you want something like that to happen.**

 **Please let me know what you think, and let me know what I need to improve, and I hope you all have a good day.**

 **Thank you for Reading, Malluk**


	2. Chapter 2 - Welcome to Beacon

**Heyo, Malluk here with Chapter 2 of Knight of Hunters! Not much to say for this one except I wrote a lot more then I expected to cause me to push back some of the story into the next chapter, whether that's a good thing or bad we will have to wait and see.**

 **The only real thing people commented about was spelling and its something I'm trying to work on, but I don't have a Beta so when I do spell and grammar check I tend to miss some things still. Being from England when most reading are American can cause some spelling due to be different (even if I'm crap at it anyway) I'm sorry for that, and I'll try to get better.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay Night is the property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting, only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Please support the original products.**

 **(UPDATED: 25/01/19)**

* * *

Beacon Academy, regarded as one of if not the best Hunter Secondary School in the world, many different people try to apply to the school each year and only around 100 are accepted into initiation. Those accepted were currently riding a Bulkhead heading towards the prestigious academy. Excitement, anticipation, worry and many other emotions ran through the thoughts of those on board, but for our Hero, it was the not the emotions running rampant but the content of his stomach.

'Damn, why did my motion sickness had to come back for vengeance NOW of all times! I thought I got rid of this when Mordred threw me on that train a few years ago to help me 'get over it'! That was the worst experience of his life. 4 HOURS he spent on that train till it finally reached Vale and he finally managed to crawl off it. Mom was furious about that little adventure. At least the plane ride back showed it did somehow work. Jaune's stomach growled causing him to groan, his hood covering his face, stopping anyone seeing how green he was getting, "But why now, I enjoy a ride now and again, but this is agony. Ok Jaune, calm down its just the stress getting to you, just breath, do that aura technique Tam taught you to calm down." He said to himself, taking a deep breath and focusing his aura on settling his stomach. When it finally settled down, he breathed a sigh of relief, finally taking the time to look around the bulkhead at his fellow Huntsmen and huntresses in training.

He saw two girls hugging near the window, well he says hugging, but it looked more like the blond cowgirl was trying to crush the goth girl given how her feet were off the ground. 'Reminds me of when Nero was proud of me for something, she always was a hugger. Would have been great If she hadn't shoved my head in her cleavage when we got older, puberty was a real bitch during those years, but I know she just does it due to how excited she gets.' He smiled thinking of his older sister before an annoyed pout made its way onto his face when another sister made her way to the front of his mind. 'unlike Tam… I know she does that on purpose.' "The sly fox." He grumbled to himself before looking across the sea of students; he didn't really focus on anyone else as much as the two girls. His eyes did linger on a few of the girls but who could help him? He was a 17-year-old Male surrounded by women who could be supermodels. Like the black-haired beauty, he spotted reading in one of the corners.

At first glance, the book looked like one of his sister's but on the closer look was something called _**A Man with Two Souls**_ , it would have been awkward seeing her books being read in public given their 'content.' Another eye-catching thing about her was her Amber eyes that seemed to catch the light along with the bow on her head; he thought he saw it twitch a few times and thought that should mean something but couldn't quite remember what.

Another to catch his eye was a girl who looked like she was made of snow given how much white was on her, only her movement and a few splashes of color proved she was alive. Her ice blue eyes and side tail hair are what stood out the most about her along with her strict look, she screamed high class, and Jaune would have written her off as a spoiled brat who paid her way in if not for the scar going down the left side of her face over her eye. 'That looks like a sword wound, she must have got it during a fight? She's lucky she didn't lose that eye and I kind of like it. Adds some danger to her look.'

Moving on from the girl he would now dub "Snow Angle" the next to catch his eyes was another pair, this being a short haired ginger girl in white and pink talking at what looked like a mile a minute to her companion who, upon a closer look, was a long black-haired guy in green with a pink streak in his hair. Given his stoic expression and the slight nods, he uses to answer the girl next to him he must have been used to her eccentric personality. 'The two must have known each other for a while if he can sit there and let her ramble on, kinda feel sorry for him but hey, he must enjoy her company to stick around.'

Next to catch his eyes was a small crowd of people who seemed to be trying to talk to a scarlet headed girl in the middle, her hair was in a ponytail and she had brown and gold armor on. Given the way people crowned around her she must have been popular but the smile on her face looked fake. Jaune was well acquainted with that smile since he would wear it when he didn't want to trouble his sisters. Just by chance their eyes meet, his azure blue to her emerald green, they reminded him of his family, he gave her the most genuine smile he could as well as a small wave, she returned the waved and the smile turning into a genuine one which makes him happy before her focus was pulled away by one of the people next to her. Jaune thought about going over but the screens in the bulkhead changed to a light blond woman with green eyes welcoming the students to Beacon before landing.

'She kinda looks familiar?' Jaune thought to himself but before he could really think about it the bulkhead finally landed, gripping his weapons, clipping Crocea Mors to his waist and pulled Excalibur over his shoulder (it was still wrapped but had some cloth tied to the guard and blade to act as a sling) he stepped off onto solid ground taking in the sight of Beacon.

Beacon was located along the east edge of the city of Vale and was located at the end of the river that ran through the center of the city, Beacon was located at the top of the large cliff face that was at the end of the river. The School was once a castle nearly hundred years ago before it was converted to a school for huntsmen after The Great War and it showed with the architecture, the centerpiece being the old CCT tower located in the heart of the school.

Jaune took a moment to take in the sights, having grown up in an old Keep that was just as old as Beacon he wasn't as blown away as many of the others, but he could still enjoy the differences in design that the two places had. It was a welcome change to the only son of the Arc family having not traveled much in his youth due to his family being busy, it was finally his time to see the world! And the best way was to start it off with a bang!

*BOOM*

'… Not quite so literally.' Jaune sighed to himself setting off to see what caused the explosion.

* * *

Ruby Rose was having a roller coaster of a week, the new issue of Weapons Weekly was released! Uphill. Her favorite Dust store was attacked and robbed by Roman Torchwick. Downhill. She was in the store, so she beat up all the bad guys! Uphill. But Roman got away and is still at large. Downhill. She got to meet a professional Huntress! Uphill. But she turned out to be strict and mean to hands. Downhill. Then she met Professor Ozpin! The Headmaster of Beacon! Uphill. He gave me a WHOLE plate of cookies to herself. Uphill again. THEN INVITED HER TO BEACON 2 YEARS EARLY! Top of the World! But things had been steadily going downhill since she arrived.

Yang had but a lot of pressure on her on the way over from Vale. Then she ditched her almost as soon as they landed, leaving poor Ruby alone surrounded by people older than her. And in her confusion at being ditched, she tripped over some rich girl's luggage causing the dust in them to fall out and was yelled at by said rich girl along with having a dust bottle shaken in her face cause her to explode! The rich girl really started laying into her, getting annoyed she snapped back until another girl intervened calling the rich girl Weiss Schnee, and listed off her family rap sheet causing her to storm off. She was going to try and make it up to her later and turned to engage the new arrival, but she turned to see her walking off leaving her alone, again. Fed up with what was happening she flopped back into the small crater that was created from the explosion, finally hitting rock bottom, and a few feet further.

"Welcome to Beacon," she said to herself dejected, eyes closed to block out the sun.

"Hey, need a hand?" a voice said as a shadow overtook the young girl.

Opening her eyes Ruby came face to face with an armored and gloved hand. Giving a small thank you, she was pulled up to her feet finally getting a look at the NEW-new arrival.

The person who helped her up was a male student wearing silver half-armor with blue lining that covers from the neck down, under the armor was a blue coat/tunic with white trim that went down to the front of his legs, past his waist guards with more coming out to the side and around his back down to above his ankles. One thing that caught her eye was that the hand that pulled her up (his right) had most of the arm armor under the sleeve which had a white fur trim and a black center line with white rope crisscrossing up his right arm to the pauldron. He currently had the hood, that was attached around his neck to the front plate, over his head but given he was around a foot taller she could see his face.

The two just settled into an awkward silence as they stared into each other's eyes, her into his deep blue and his into her unique silver. After a few moments Jaune realized he was staring and still holding her hand, letting go quickly in embarrassment, he gave a weak chuckle and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, I'm Jaune."

Ruby noticing, she too was staring and that they were holding hand also went red with embarrassment, pointing her fingers together and looking at her feet she meekly replied." I'm Ruby." Looking back up to meet his eyes.

"Hey, aren't you the guy who was moaning on the ride over?" she questioned causing Jaune to groan in response.

* * *

The two were now walking/wandering around the front gardens as they got to know each other.

"All I'm saying is motion sickness is more common then you think," Jaune said to the goth girl next to him, trying to explain himself.

"Look I'm sorry, Moaning-guy was the first thing that came to mind". Ruby said trying to appease her first friend at Beacon.

"Please don't call me that. It sounds so wrong." Jaune sighed to himself, running his hand down his face, removing his hood allowing his golden blond hair to breath, he kept it in a short, scruffy state like he did most his life. He did grow it long once but soon cut it at the idea of his sister Nero getting her hand on him with long hair. He already had an album of embarrassing "outfits" he wore when he was too young to know better but, now it was all just pictures and repressed memories of a darker age.

"Gross, but like I said. It was the first thing to pop in my head." Ruby responded, wrinkling her nose at the implication of the name. While her sister may want to think she was still a pure, innocent child, as a teenager, like most she got curious and looked a few things up. Not to mention knowing Yang's scroll password, girl seriously needed to close her tabs when she's done.

"Well, what if I called you Crater Face?" Jaune shot back in retaliation.

"Hey! You know that the explosion was an accident!" Ruby replied, emphasizing the "accident" part.

"Well, the names Jaune. Short, Sweet, Rolls of the tongue, Ladies love it." Jaune stated with a large amount of charisma.

Ruby just looked at him funny, "Do they?" she asked in confusion.

"Well according to my Mother and my sisters. Yes, yes they do."

Ruby could help but giggle hearing Jaune try to justify his horrible pickup line. Hearing he too had at least one sister she could help but comment. "A couple sisters? I only have one and she drives me up the wall. I can't imagine having more."

"Yeah, while they can be a pain I love all my sisters." He commented with a smile, thinking of all his sisters, younger and older. When the face of one, however, came to his head his smile became a bit melancholy. 'Yeah, they're all great.'

Noticing the shift in his mood an awkward silence settled on the two once more. Ruby not wanting the dreaded silence to return quickly decided to focus on one of the most important aspects of a huntsman, their weapon.

"Soooo, I got this thing." She said whipping out her weapon from behind her. While a red rectangle box at first it quickly expanded into a 6-foot-tall scythe that she impeded into the ground.

Jaune not expecting her to slam a giant scythe into the ground jumped at the impact, quickly locking eyes on the weapon. "Is that a scythe?" he questioned, having never seen one used as a weapon before.

"It's also a customizable, high impact, sniper rifle." She said puffing her chest out in pride.

Jaune, letting his brain catch up with what was happening finally replied after a moment. "Soooo, its also a gun?" he questioned.

Coking her weapon, she nodded in confidence. "It's also a gun."

Jaune just looked at her weapon. "That's cool." he cheerfully replied.

"So, what do you have?" she questioned, place her weapon back behind her looking at Jaune expectedly.

"Well, I've got my sword and shield, Crocea Mors." Pulling the sword free and expanding the shield from the sheath.

Oooing back, she had to ask, "So what can they do?"

Softly laughing at her enthusiasm, he collapsed the shield and re-sheath the blade. "Nothing to fancy, the shield shifts into a sheath for the sword that's just a normal sword." He explained clipping it back into his waist.

"But doesn't the shield weigh the same?" she questions.

"It's convenient, besides doesn't your weapon weigh the same when you put it into its collapsed form?" he countered.

"Touché" Ruby replied, not expecting him to turn it back on her. "So, you don't have any ranged? No gun or bow and arrow to go with the whole 'knight' theme?" she questioned, joking about the Bow and Arrow.

"Oum No! I'm more likely to shot myself than anything in front of me." Jaune exclaimed, shivering at a memory of long ago when he got his hands on a gun, 'maybe something more modern would work for me' he thought, never again.

"That bad?" She asked seeing him have what appeared to be a horrifying flashback, given how pale he went.

"Worse."

"Okayyyyyy…" Deciding to give him a moment her eyes landed on the handle that poked from behind his back, only now noticing he had another sword on him. "What about that one?" She said, pointing over his shoulder.

Snapping out of his flashback his eyes turned to the object over his shoulder, the covered hilt of Excalibur. "That one… special." He said, unable to think of how to describe it.

Confused by his response and the fact it was wrapped in cloth she asked the one question he didn't really want her to ask. "Why is it coved up?"

Looking to Ruby, debating whether to tell her or not he decided against it, he only just met her, and he wasn't really feeling up to explaining something so personal. "Sorry Ruby, but that's a bit too personal. Maybe someday?"

Wanting to know but seeing the conversation was making him uncomfortable she backed off, for now. "OK, at a later date then."

"So, why'd you help me out back there?" Ruby questioned.

"Well, my Mom always said, 'Strangers are just friend you haven't met yet.'" He said with a smile, remembering when his mother told him that when he headed off to Grail Academy.

Ruby just hummed and nodded as the two walked in silence till Ruby asked: "Hey, where are we going?"

Neither of the two answered, looking at each other for answers that the other didn't have, they just stood there, waiting.

"Head back to the front?" Jaune finally asked.

"Yeah... let's do that," Ruby said with a shrug

* * *

After backtracking to the front of the school our two heroes finally made their way into the main Amphitheatre where all the other Beacon hopeful were waiting. The two were greeted by chatter and a sea of different colors from the different outfits people wore.

"Ruby! Over here!" a voice called over the noise, the two turned to the sound of the voice to land on the blond girl who was hugging Ruby on the ride over, waving to the younger girl. "I saved you a spot!"

"Oh, I got to go. See you later Jaune!" Ruby quickly stated rushing to join her sister. Not catching Jaune reaching out to her.

"Wait! *sigh* Great now where am I going to find a nice, quirky girl to talk to?" he questioned to himself, deciding to wander around the room until the ceremony started, missing the redhead he waved to on the bulkhead behind him watching him walk off.

Walking around he decided to continue observing the other candidates around him to see if anyone was worth getting to know. He did spot a few faces from his time at Grail Academy, but he never interacted with most of his classmates. Due to his years without a weapon most people wrote him off and either ignored him or the few dumb enough to bully him, his sister usually sorted those people out if he didn't but his above average hand to hand skill to use braking their noses, it was the older sibling of said noise broke kids who would rough him up for 'attacking their sweet kid sibling', sadly for them his sisters were stronger.

Speaking of bullies, his eyes travel over to a group of guys that screamed 'Bros'. while their color scheme was quite dull compared to most, they were a few of the only ones, besides himself, wearing armor. The two in brown and grey were the most forgettable but the one in green had a light green mohawk, so it was hard not to be drawn to that. The biggest of the group was a ginger male in silver armor with gold trim, his armor was adorned by a giant bird spreading its wings. The guy really rubbed Jaune the wrong way for some reason and he planned to interact with him as little as posable.

Moving on he spotted the pink and green couple again. The girl was still talking the guy's ear off, Jaune wondered if she even stopped. He could respect a guy who could take a barrage like that, the closest he ever got anything like that was when either Jeanne was hovering over him in worry when he pushed himself too far in training or when Tam wanted to embarrass him by going over her ideas for her 'books'. Catching the male wandering gaze, he offered a small salute to his brother in arms. Seeming to understand the gesture he returned a small smirk of amusement before wiping it off his face before his companion noticed.

Chuckling to himself he continued his way till a voice caught his ears, turning to the voice he spotted Ruby and the blond girl taking to the "Snow Angel" he spotted on the way over. She was pointing at him for some reason, not quite knowing what they were saying about him he started to make his way over to see what was going on.

Finally making it over to the three it looked like the blond one was going to bash the white-haired girl's head in so he decided to make his presence know before a fight could start.

"Hey Ruby, what's going on over here?" he started, announcing himself to the trio and distracting the two arguing girls.

Sighing in relive at Jaune's perfect timing she greeted her new friend. "Hey, Jaune! Just trying to resolve a misunderstanding." She explained, trying to make it seem like not a big deal.

Weiss and Yang both turned to examine the newest addition to the conversation. For Yang, he wasn't a bad looking guy. Shiny blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a cute face, he had the whole knight look down as well. 'Not bad,' she thought to herself, 'but how does he know Ruby?' she asked herself her big sister mode activating. She had only been away from Ruby for a few minutes, 10 at most, yet in that time she gained a new friend, which was good news, but that friend just so happened to be a guy. While Ruby did have some male friends back at Signal, everyone at Beacon was around 2 years older then her sweet sister so she felt she had to make sure this Jaune guy didn't have any ulterior motives for her sister.

Weiss on the other hand, hearing he was familiar with the safety hazard only gave him a quick glance before scoffing. "Just great. Another one of you people shows up to waste my time even more." She said hauntingly.

"What do you mean 'You people'?" Yang asked heated, eyes going Red in anger at the heiress's statement.

Seeing the conversation returning to a more violent path Jaune quick tried to defuse the situation. "Hey now, we're all trying to become Huntsman here, let's not start burning bridges on the first day. OK?"

Seeing that he was somewhat right the two just huffed, turning away from each other. 'They're acting like a pair of children.' Jaune and Ruby both thoughts, signing at the two's attitude.

Yang turning again to look at Jaune and had a memory click in place from earlier, "Hey… aren't you that guy who was moaning and groaning on the way over?" she blurted out not caring for how it sounded.

"Moaning and Groaning!" Wiess asked in a scandalous way, going red at the thoughts that came to mind.

"What!? NO! Well yes, it was me but not for the way your thinking!" Jaune tried to defend himself.

Seeing his eyes turn to her, Weiss covered her chest with her arms, "Don't look at me you brute!"

"It's not like that! I used to have motion sickness and it comes back from time to time! I was just trying not to throw up!" He explained trying to clear up any mistakes.

"I don't care for your excuses! You deviant!" she continued, turning away to hide more from his gaze, her blush not leaving her face whether it was from embarrassment or anger no one could tell.

Yang just laughed at the two's interaction, while she expected some reaction from the blond male, hoping to turn him into a stuttering mess, Ice Queen's reaction made it so much better.

Ruby, while finding it funny, tried to support Jaune and clean up Yang's mess. "He's right, he does suffer from motion sickness! It wasn't anything bad like that!" Seeing her words fall on deaf ears she turned to the sources of the dilemma, "Yaaaang ~ stop bullying my new friend and help him ~." she whined to her mean sister.

Before Yang could reply an 'ahem' passed over the crowd, silencing them. Everyone turned to the stage where the Headmaster of Beacon, Ozpin was standing in his classic Green suit with his cane in hand, finally addressing the new students.

"I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." He stated, his eyes sweeping over the crowd, his eyes lingering on a few students, the Schnee Heiress, The princess of Menagerie, The Goddess of Victory and the last of the Silver eyes. "But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step" he finished, taking his leave.

His deputy, Glynda Goodwitch, stepped up to the mic directing the students to were they would be sleeping for the night and that initiation would be in the morning, giving them a warning to be ready before dismissing the crowd.

"He seemed kinda off…" Yang stated, a little of but off by the headmaster's speech.

"Almost like he wasn't even their…" Ruby followed, equally but off.

Jaune decided to add his two cents on the matter, "I guess he had other stuff on his mind, or that his so use to giving the same speech each year he goes on autopilot."

The two sisters could only nod in agreement at the blonde's assessment. Weiss just scoffed, taking the moment to finally remove herself of their presence, she didn't even say goodbye, she just walked away to do her own thing.

"Rude" Yang stated watch the Ice Queen storm off, part of her wanted to continue their fight but she was glad to be rid of her. 'Hope I don't get stuck on a team with her' she thought to herself, enacting murphy's law, sealing her fate.

"Welp how about we forget about Miss Grumbly Pants and get Something to eat?" Ruby asked, getting their mind off the disaster of a conversation they had with Weiss.

"Sure."

"I'm Game."

"Great! Let's go!" Ruby said after getting the two's approval. Marching off on a random direction after a few steps she turned to the two older members, giggling in embarrassment, "SOOO, where's the cafeteria?" she meekly asked. Cause the two blonds to start lighting, embarrassing her more.

"GUYS~!"

* * *

Night had finally fallen over Beacon and the new students were finally getting into their nightwear and getting settled in the Ballroom, no was given a room since they didn't know who would be staying and leaving tomorrow to find something else to do till they can try again next year. Because of this people's luggage was kept locked away for the night to be placed in a room if you passed or shipped to Vale if you fail, because of this people were told to have a small bag but aside to hold pajamas and cleaning supplies for the night before initiation. While the males and female have different changing rooms for the gym/swimming rooms, combat class, and living arrangements were going to be co-ed, teams would get their own set of lockers next to each other, so teacher advised getting used to getting naked in front of the opposite sex, since as huntsmen they didn't have time to complain about seeing each other naked.

For Jaune, he had just finished cleaning up after some last-minute training. He had departed from the sisters after dinner to get some time in with Crocea Mors, he hadn't touched the SnS pair since getting Excalibur, so he wanted to make sure he could still use them somewhat. He noticed his swordsmanship was better than before Excalibur but not as good as when he used his soul weapon, this annoyed him somewhat as he hoped even just having it let him use any sword now, he was sadly mistaken as he could only do as well as 60% of what he could do with Excalibur. While not bad he estimated he was comparable to around bottom 50% of a final year Primary school, not bad but not great for a place like Beacon. It was his shield skills that had been hit the most, having rusted over the years, this did cause Jaune to berate himself, he spent so much time making sure he could use a shield but after obtaining Excalibur neglected that side of training. You couldn't really blame him, he had to catch up with his siblings and the easiest way was to focus on Excalibur.

'Now you're just handicapping yourself.' A part of his mind wisped to him, he knew what he planned was stupid, but he just had to see if he could do it on his own, to prove himself. 'You're acting pathetic, you know you can't do anything without Excalibur, it's a part of you.' The voice continued, he knew how important a weapon was to an Arc but years without his had built a slight resentment in him towards his families reliant on their weapons. If they didn't have it integrated into their very souls. He wouldn't have spent so many years seeing the same look in people eyes when they found out he didn't have a weapon, pity. While gaining Excalibur had been the greatest moment in his life it didn't come at costs, mainly in his relationships, in and out his family.

'It's your own fault.' The voice finished leaving Jaune alone as he stepped out the shower to dry himself off. Not wanting to think about his situation he moved over to his bag that held his pajamas. Opening the bag, he sighed in relief seeing a normal t-shirt and some trousers, he had let Tamamo put this bag together while he focused on his main suitcase, he caught her trying to but his bunny onesie in the bag but quickly swiping the attire, he couldn't imagine walking into the ballroom as a giant blue rabbit, he'd have been laughed out. She tried to argue that it was what he wore while they cuddled so it would be perfect for the cuddling he would be doing with all the girls he would swoon on the first day. But after threatening her snacks, she lamented, putting in some more normal attire.

Putting the trousers on first he then pulled the top over his head letting it rest over his body, after a moment the shirt started to shrink causing Jaune to jump in surprise. It final stopped when the shirt lay close against his body like a muscle shirt showing off his physique, pulling at the material around his neck to let it breath more he spotted some writing on the back, inner collar through the mirror, looking closer it looked like someone had written in the inside of the collar at the back.

'When worn, Shrink two sizes between until 6 am'

Taking some water in hand he tried to rub the words away, but they didn't smudge at all. "Permanent ink. Damn that fox." Jaune sighed to himself, the shirt neck had gotten too small for his head to be pulled through so the only way out was to rip the shirt off, but it seems that Tam had 'forgotten' to put a spare in his bag, imagen that.

Feeling going shirtless would be worse he resigned to his fate and made his way to the ballroom, hoping no one brought up how tight his shirt was.

* * *

The Ballroom was full of people either lying in their sleeping bags, walking around or talking with other in whispers, while a natural divide was made by the males and females there were a few groups of mixed sexes sleeping together, whether they were friends or one of the few couples in the room. While a few of the older year were placed to keep order for the night there was only really 4 rules for the night. Lights out at 9 pm, no fighting, no loud noises or chatter and no 'hanky-panky' between people. So long as they are followed people could do as they wished.

For Ruby, she spent her time writing a letter to her friend at Signal, being moved forward two years while exiting, meant leaving all her friends back home. While her friends were supportive of her advancement they couldn't come with her meaning she had to make new friends socialize with, but it didn't mean she had to lose contact with them either.

"It's like one big slumber party!" Yang said, dropping next to her sister in her sleeping wear of an orange vest with her symbol on it and black pajama short-shorts.

"I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys though," Ruby replied not looking away from her letter. She too was in her sleepwear, her own black vest with a large heart in the middle, white pajama trousers with roses on it and an eye mask with red eyes.

"I know I do~" Yang purred, seeing a few of the boys shirtless and flexing, trying to catch the attention of the opposite sex. Not hearing Ruby react to her teasing comment she looked at what she was doing and asked, "What you got there?"

"It's a letter to the gang back at Signal. I promise to tell them what its like at Beacon and how things are doing." She explained.

"Oooh~ that's Soooo cute~" Yang teased getting a pillow to the face with Ruby telling her to "Shut up" rather angerly.

Pulling her own pillow close she explained, angry her sister was making fun of her, "I didn't get to take my friends with me to school. It's wired not knowing anyone."

Seeing her sisters distress she tried to cheer her up, "What about Jaune? His nice, not to mention cute. ~" she said, not giving up the chance to tease her sister.

Ruby, being an easy target for her sister shenanigans easily went red so supplied her sister with another pillow even if she kinda agreed with, "Shut up!"

Laughing at her reaction Yang got back on topic, "Well his plus 1 friend, that a 100% increase." She stated in confidence.

Turning onto her back to get comfortable she replied in a monotone voice," I'm pretty sure Weiss counts as negative one friend. Back to zero."

"There's no such thing as a negative friend. You just made one friend and one enemy- "she stopped suddenly, while she was trying to comfort her sister her eyes caught sight of the conversation's positive friend, upon seeing his attire her mind froze.

"Yang? What's wrong?" hearing her sister stop she turned and asked what was wrong, seeing her stare over her with wide eye and blush she, naturally turned to see that she was gawking at. When she turned to look a blush exploded onto her face when her eyes locked on the person she considered her first friend at Beacon.

There, across the room passing the guys who were flexing their muscles was Jaune, in a VERY tight shirt that left nothing to the imagination. While not overly muscular he was more muscular then most people their age, with the shirt so tight to his body it molded around his pecs and abs making them stand out more.

"Damn Sis, out of all the guys you became friends with, I approve of this one the most…" Yang stated, eyes glued to Jaune's Abs, a nice 6 pack she gladly drank in.

Ruby couldn't respond, too lost in her own world at seeing Jaune practically shirtless, she had only seen him in his armor, so she had no idea he would be this buff. She had seen a few guys shirtless, whether it was during summer when her friends wanted out of the heat or when staving her curiosity, but they were either too young to have a large muscle definition or were on a screen. The guys flexing were the oldest guys she saw shirtless but even they paled in comparison to Jaune.

As soon as Jaune entered the ballroom he had felt eyes on him. The shirt had modeled to his body in a way that he may have just gone shirtless anyway. He knew his physical appearance was more defined than most his age group. Aura was usually unlocked around 13 so the physical increases from aura allow hunters to have a much smaller frame as they usually don't have to do as much physical training to reach an optimal physicality. Its why so many huntresses aren't heavily muscular even if they use a large weapon or have a power type fighting style. But for Jaune, he didn't get his aura till later and in an attempt to catch up to his sisters, he focused heavily on his physical prowess, pushing himself to peak performance for his age group. He could never match anyone with aura, but it made him a lot stronger than those without. By the time he got his aura he was already near the physics he was now and just kept himself around the fitness he was since most of his training when fully into using Excalibur and Aura, but he was still most likely the fittest person in the room.

Trying his best to not make eye contact with anyone he scanned the room looking for somewhere to sleep, his eyes fell upon Yang and Ruby and seeing them looking at him he decided to make his way over, hoping a conversation could distract him for the eyes around him.

"Hey Ruby, Yang, how are you to?"

Silence greeted him as they continued to stare off into the distance, a blush on both girls faces.

"Guys?"

"Hum?" Ruby finally responded, blinking her eyes in confusion, she lost herself a minute there when she saw Jaune, the things she thought kept the bush on her face as she tried to shake the thoughts away. But now he was standing over her with a look of confusion.

"EEP!" she jumped seeing him so close, quickly trying to compose herself she sat up and looked down, poking her fingers together and finally answered him. "He-Hey Ja-Jaune. How are yo-you?"

"I'm doing ok. You're looking a bit red, you're not cold or anything?" he answered, dropping next to the blushing rose, placing the back of his hand against her head to get a read of her temperature.

Feeling his hand against her head Ruby went stiff, not knowing what to do in this kind of situation. "N-n-n-no, I'm f-f-f-f-fine!"

"You do feel a bit hot…" he said, not noticing Yang retune from her own 'adventures', turning to see Jaune holding his hand against Ruby's head and seeing her blush, she could help but smirk at her sister's reaction.

"Well, well, well~. Never pegged you as a shower Jaune~" Yang purred bringing the two's attention to her. Her lidded eyes staring right at Jaune, who shivered at the tone.

"W-well, Umm I don't really wear stuff this… tight usually, my sister but this in my bag and I don't have any other shirt to wear so I'm stuck with this." He strutted and sighed to himself, trying to explain himself. Somewhere to the far east, a teasing sister laughed to herself feeling her plan go perfectly.

"Oooh~ I don't mind. Not at all~"

"Yaaaang~ stop embarrassing Jaune." Ruby finally joined the conversation after pushing her blush down.

"Don't give me that. You were looking as much as me." Yang said, causing her sister's blush to return. "~When did my little sister grow up and loose here innocence, where did I go wrong. ~ shew cried to herself in an overdramatic fashion.

Ruby deadpanned at this, deciding to tease her sister for once. "If you must know, I got hold of your scroll a few years back and you left your 'tabs' open." She returned dryly, shocking both Yang and Jaune, more so Yang since Ruby basically said she kept porn open on her scroll.

"RUBY! Don't say that out loud!" she blushed like never before, tackling her sister in embarrassment causing to two to start fighting.

Jaune couldn't help but laugh at the two's interaction, it reminded him of his interactions with his sisters, getting into fights and trying to embarrass each other.

"OK you two, stop before we get in trouble" he stated, pulling them apart.

The two just huffed causing him to laugh again, enjoying the twos little spat. 'Defiantly like my sisters' he thought fondly. Just then the sound of a candle being lit nearby pulled the trio's attention to the black haired and amber eyed girl Jaune saw on the Bulkhead.

"That girl..." Ruby said.

"You know her?" Yang questioned.

"Not really, she saw what happened this morning but left before I could say anything," Ruby answered

"I only recognize her from the bulkhead, it must have been just before I helped you up," Jaune added.

Yang remembering their earlier conversation before Jaune 'distracted' them came up along with a great idea. Standing up she grabbed Ruby's wrist pulling her along. "Well now's your chance! You can make more friends as now."

Panicked at trying to interact with someone who saw her explode she tried breaking free of her sister's grasp but was uneventful as Yang dragged her away. "Wha-! What are you doing?! Jaune! Help me!"

Jaune just laughed following, "This is gonna go well".

* * *

Blake had finally settled down after waiting for all the other girls to finish to make sure no one saw her ears, she planned to continue her current book. She did plan to read her favorite book to help calm her nerves but given all the eyes in the area, she thought it best not to read her 'adult literature' out in the open.

She had finally made it into Beacon even if it was not guaranteed now, she had a second chance to do the right thing after leaving the Fang a few weeks ago. While she felt they were doing good work for Faunus kind her ex-boyfriend and mentor, Adam Taurus, had been made the head of Vale's Branch a few months ago and he had started to become more violent, more so then High Leader Sienna allowed. While they targeted places that treated Faunus poorly, they never tried hurting innocent people. Politicians, CEOs, Judges, they were fair gain but people doing their jobs like workers were not targeted. A few did get killed but it was always 'for the cause' and a 'necessary sacrifice' for the Faunus kind but now Adam just wanted any human to burn along with all the corrupt ones. She was lucky to be on surveillance and espionage mission, so she didn't have to spill blood, while she was offered assassination missions she turned them down. Some think the Fang forces it member to kill all humans but only those that want to do tasks like assassinations and raids kill people. Blake wasn't a fan of taking lives, but it didn't mean others weren't.

Not wanting to continue she focused on the book in her hands, content on getting some light reading in before lights out. She was a few pages in when a pair of voices made their way over to her, the noise came for two girls making their way over to her, one joyous with a wave and the other in a grumble being dragged behind the other, the one being dragged looked like the girl from that morning that blew up with the Schnee. Pulling up the rear, not making much noise apart from a suppressed chuckle was a blond man in a tight shirt. She like most caught an eye full of him when he entered the room and given her taste in books, she like most fantasized about the boy. Blushing at seeing him up close, thus getting a better look she turned to the female blond to distract herself and as she was the one calling out and waving at her, it seemed she wasn't going to be reading in peace after all.

"Hello~, I think you two may know each other?" she said, arriving finally letting go of Ruby who crossed her arms and pouted at being dragged over. Jaune just laughed at her expense revising her pout as well.

"Aren't you that girl that exploded?" she questions, trying to confirm her suspicions.

"hehehe… yeah, my names Ruby" she reached out a handshake that Blake ignored, awkwardly pulling back she continued," but you can call me Crater… you can call me Ruby."

The slip of his given nickname caused a snort to make its way out of Jaune as he tried not to laugh getting a glare from Ruby and an eye roll from Yang. Blake was not understanding the joke just responded with an "OK" before going back to her book.

What are you doing?" Yang whispered.

"I don't know. Help me" Ruby whispered back. The two turning back smiling as Jaune continued to 'not laugh.'

"So, what your name?"

"*sigh* Blake."

"Well Blake, I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister! I like your bow."

"Thanks"

"it goes great with your… Pajamas!"

"Right…"

…

…

…

…

"Nice night don't you think?" said ruby

"Yes. It's lovely. Almost as good as this book." Blake replied

…

"That I will continue to read."

…

"As soon as you leave." She finished

"Ye, this girl's a lost cause." Yang finished seeing the conversation going no were. Jaune during this was dying in the background of laughter, something Yang didn't take kindly to, taking a swing at him that he somehow dodged give how little air he had running through his lung.

"What's it about?" Ruby ask out of no were.

"What?" Blake asked not expecting the question.

"The book." She clarified, "does it have a name."

"Well, it's about a man with two souls. Each fighting for control of his body." She explained the premise.

"Oh, that sounds, interesting," Yang added joining back in after hitting final hitting Jaune, but her response sounded forced. Jaune joined into seeing she had finally calmed down. "Well, I think so." Earning a punch to the shoulder that stung quite a bit.

"I love books," Ruby continued" Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of Heroes and monsters. Its one of the reasons I wanted to become a Huntress."

Blake found the idea of becoming a huntress due to children stories fun, and asked with a slight chuckle, "Why was that? Hoping you'll live a Happily ever after?"

"Well, I'm hoping we all do." Ruby expressed, "As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in those books." She continued, determination dripping in her voice as she went on. "Someone who fought for what was right, and who protected people who couldn't protect themselves."

Blake was shocked by Ruby's conviction and naivety and couldn't help be exclaim her thoughts "That's, very ambitious for a child. Unfortunately, the world isn't the same as a fairy tale..." She explained, going melancholy half way through, having seen how unfair it was in her time in the White Fang.

Ruby just gave her a small smile and countered, "Well that's why were here… to make it better."

"Oooooh~ I'm So prodded of my Baby sister~~~!" Yang cried, grabbing Ruby in a bear hug. Ruby had gotten so serious in stating her dream it brought a tear to her eye.

Ruby, having her sister embarrass her after finally saying something cool got mad and punched her sister with a cry of "SHUT UP!" causing the two to start another fight.

Laughing at the two sisters. Jaune moved next to Blake to lean against the wall as they watch the two scrap. "She's right you know." He suddenly said drawing Blake's eyes who hadn't noticed him move next to her, to focused on the dust cloud in front of her.' Was that a cat screech?'

"Excuse me?"

"I said 'She's right you know'. Well, you both are. The world is a cruel place that can be unforgiving to just about everyone." Jaune stated remembering growing up in the shadow of his family, the years of ridicule from those who saw him like a stain on his family as well as saw him as the easy target. He took a breath and continued, "But if we give up hope and don't try to make the future a better place than wants to point? We'd just stagnate and never progress. So, it's best to walk forward and never stop reaching for a world with a happily ever after." he said, catching Blake's attention.

She had always tried to move forward, she thought by abandoning her family and stayed in White Fang she it would lead to peace. Her father had dropped leadership of the White Fang to the mayor over Menagerie, something she saw as him running away and had stayed with the fang believing it would lead the Faunus to a better tomorrow, but it had only led to bloodshed. Now after seeing how cruel the world is she had decided to run away, not wanting to live the life she had led up to that point and start anew. While understanding his point he couldn't see him achieving a world like the one he aims for. "But how do you expect to achieve a world like that? It not that easy to see the good in people and it's even harder to change people's mind when they start believing something." She said dejected, thinking of the horrors she had seen with the Fang being unable to see people putting their difference aside to bring peace. Unknown to her, her bow had moved down onto her head, something Jaune noticed. Putting the pieces together he could guess where Blake was coming from, having seen his sisters come from the same place.

"I don't expect to "win" in the end, I'm not expecting to solve all the worlds problems, no one person can." Jaune said bringing Blake out of her depression and back onto him "I'm not doing this because it's easy, god knows it's not and let alone because it works. Hundreds have tried before me and many will after." Jaune started, confusing Blake as he was just listing a load of complaints about being a huntsman, he hadn't even been fully accepted into Beacon yet! Before she could interject he continued, neither noticing Yang and Ruby had stopped fighting to listen to Jaune's speech.

"If I run away from being a huntsman if I don't become a hero like, in those children tales, good people will die because I wasn't there to help them." The line about running away caused Blake to jump a little but no one noticed, they were too focused on Jaune. "If I stand and fight, some of them might live. Maybe not many or for very long given the Grimm, but it will be at my very best, with everything I have until the day I die, and I would have it no other way. And that's an Arc Promise." He finished. 'But you're not at your best' the voice from earlier returned contradicting his words given what he planned to do during his time at Beacon. He elected to ignore it for not, aiming to lift Blake's spirits instead, seeing that as more important than pointing out his own faults.

No one said a word, who could after a speech like that, a few near by like the Green male had listed in, his partner had gone out like a light as soon as her head hit the mat. He was happy to hear there were people in the world that aim to help those in need no matter what the cost to themselves, while he did see it as a bit too suicidal he could get behind the message the blond was trying to give, he hopes the two would work together in the future.

The other person listening in was the Red-haired girl who he had waved to, she was also listening in, having dispended her followers a while ago under the pretense of going to sleep but like most had been "distracted" by the blond and had kept an eye on him since he started interacted with the two girls who were just fighting. She didn't expect him to give a speech to the black-haired girl, Blake she thinks if she caught her name right, to support the younger looking girls' dreams, it was a nice change to see people who do this because they want to help people. 'Maybe I should try to get him as a partner…'

"I never did get your name you know," Blake asked breaking the silence that had settled in.

Embarrassed he forgot to introduce himself the serious look he gave off vanished into an awkward teenager as he blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh! ye, hehehe sorry. I'm Jaune." He said, reaching for a hand shake, one Blake returned with a small smile," Blake". She may have a long way to go but she hoped the two would be able to believe in her dream as Jaune and Ruby did. 'He's a bit of a dork but in a cute way' she thought, a blush coming to her as she realized what she thought. 'Where did that come from?'

Finally finishing the shake Ruby felt she should lighten the mood after such a heavy subject. "Hey! How come Jaune got a hand shake and I didn't?" she complained causing Yang to giggle, Blake to roll her eyes with a small smile and Jaune to smirk.

"It's 'cause my speeches are better than your's Rubes. Can't hold it against you since your so much more naive." He teased getting Ruby to blush at the nickname and to run up to him and start beating on his chest.

"Stop being a meanie, you're supposed to be on my side." She pouted drawing a laugh form the three older students.

"She's right Sir Knight, teasing her is my job," Yang added getting a groan from Ruby and a confused look for Jaune.

"'Sir Knight'?" he asked.

Yang just shrugged, "Yeah, given your speech about making the world a fairy tale and what your combat clothes look like, I will here by dub thee "Sir Knight"! she explained, going into a stereotypical Queen voice and acting as if she was knighting him.

Laughing at her explanation he followed along getting to a knee in front of her, "Then by your liege my Lady." He bowed extradigital getting the girls to chuckle with him joining in soon after. However, the fun came to an end as a piercing voice yelled out "What are you doing?!"

Turning to see who the voice was they all knew who it was, it was the person they had all had a confrontation with at some point in the day, Weiss Schnee in a while nightgown and her hair undone from its side tail. "Don't you know some of us are trying to sleep?!"

Seeing who it was her and Yang both called out at the same time "Oh Not you Again!". While pointing at each other.

Ruby, seeing that they were being loud shushed the two "Guys! she's right, people are trying to sleep!" she whispered.

"oh, NOW you're on my side?" Weiss antagonized.

"I was always on your side!" Ruby exclaimed with Yang starting to back her up.

Seeing the three get into an argument Jaune and Blake sighed at the same time causing them to look at each other and give a tired smile. Jaune dropped onto his bottom to sit next to her and so he could lean in and whisper to her. "I've seen how the world treats people like you, and it feels like its best just to hide away but in the end make sure to be proud of who you are." He whispered very quietly, almost un-hearable but due to her Faunus hearing and how close he was she did.

Eyes going wide her head snapped to look at him. 'HOW DID HE KNOW?! IT HASENT EVEN BEEN A DAY!' she started to panic, 'will he turn me in? will he black mail me? How'd he figures it out?' her mind was a buzz, trying to figure it out. It wasn't until he shook her shoulder that she focused on his face, he was just giving her a comforting smile, one she would expect from a close friend.

"How?" she could only whisper back. "I got a couple of people close to me who are like you, took a few beatings in their place to. Never regretted it." He explained getting a nod from Blake, knowing a human stood up for a Faunus make her think her own dream could come true, even a little at a time.

He continued "I'll keep it secret since it's your own to tell but to make it fair I'll tell you one of mine, deal?" he said, she was shocked at this, him giving up a secret about himself to balance out him knowing hers. She nodded, and he leaned a bit closer, cupping his hand to her ear," when I was younger, one of my older sisters used to stick me in a dress because she thought I looked cute." Hearing this she burst into giggles, unable to get the thought of him in a dress out of her head.

"And what are you to whispering about?" An annoyed voice asked bringing the two back to the room where it seemed Weiss had turned on them for an explanation.

"Just something personal between us, not to worry," Jaune said, standing back up.

Upon standing Weiss saw what he was wearing, having been brushing her hair when he first entered, so it was the first time she had seen his tight shirt and thus tight muscles. Going Scarlet in an instant she yelled at him in embarrassment, "WH-WH-WHAT ARE YOU WEARING!? I knew you were some deviant, but this is pure indecency!" she screamed, being louder than before.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Let's not go that far and besides, it was my sister that packed my bag, she did this as a joke!" he explained.

"More excuses you pervert! Don't look at me with your perverted eyes! And remove any thoughts of me from whatever little mind you have!" she continued, turning away and covering herself with her hands like she did earlier that day.

Seeing another argument starting Blake rolled her eyes in annoyance and picked up her candle holder next to her, it had been given the group light for a few minutes now since it was around 9:05 pm, she blew out the light sending the room into darkness causing Wiess to stop complaining and storm back to her sleeping bag. The trio gave her their own goodbyes as they made their way to their own sleeping bags leaving Blake in peace, finally. 'Seems Beacon will be a lot more interesting than I thought.'

* * *

 **And done, I will say a lot changed from my original plan for this chapter. At first, I planned to end at everyone being in their pairs, then at them getting launched but I kept writing so decided to just have it be the arrival. I know some would have liked some action, I want to add some in the least this chapter but in the end, just decided to leave it all for the next chapter that will be the whole initiation up to teams forming.**

 **For his physique, think of someone like Natsu or Gary from Fairy Tale, not 'big'' but muscular. I wanted to add a bit about how Aura affects Hunters/Huntresses more and add to the type of things Jaune put himself through to try and catch up. While some hunters can have muscles like Sun it takes longer to achieve them since Aura gives such a large strength boost its harder to gain them and usually the power goes into a person's aura to use so only older hunter will really be seen having them.**

 **Some people don't like to fact I'm making Jaune not use Excalibur but I'm hoping this chapter added a bit into the why he doesn't.**

 **But if you want to know a few** **minor spoilers** **for those who want to know when he will start using it will be the end of the Jaundice Arc when it comes into play and becomes his main weapon. I plan this to be at around chapter 6 so not too long.**

 **Someone also asked what version of Excalibur I'm using and its Saber's from Fate/Zero or UBW's Excalibur, not Proto's Excalibur. This is due to Saber/Artoria being his ancestor, so it was hers I plan to use, while Jaune dresses like Proto/Saber the sword is still the one Saber used so it looks like hers.**

 **For the poll, I've moved it the end of Jaundice since It will take a while to get to the end of S1 and I could use a bit more wiggle room in the story. The results so far are quite one-sided to Haram at the moment but Pyrrha did get a few and is catching up.**

 **Shout out to lord Rikudou for our talk on Jaune's Semblance, it was really insightful t discuss it with someone and I will be taking a few ideas to form that talk for this story but not all of them, thank you.**

 **That's this chapter done and I how you all look forward to the next one where we will be going through initiation and will be seeing Jaune's Semblance in action.**

 **Till then, Malluk.**


	3. Chapter 3 - Coming Together

**Heyo Malluk here with chapter 3!**

 **It took me a bit longer with this chapter than the last, but I finally finished it.**

 **Other great news is I finally got a Beta!  
**

**He goes by M.H Pintner, and he kindly offered to Beta my story. They have already gone back and edited the first two chapters, so they should be better reading now.**

 **I don't want to keep you waiting, so I hope you all enjoy this next chapter!**

 **RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay Night is the property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting, only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Please support the original products.  
**

**Edited by M.H. Pintner**

XXX

 **Chapter 3**

 _ **Coming together**_

It was the day of initiation as everyone was getting ready in the Beacon locker room, preparing their weapons and ammo. For our resident Arc was on his way to his own locker that he was having trouble finding. He had walked up and down rows and rows of lockers, but his which was numbered 636, which was impossible since there were only ever around 200 students at beacon at most.

'Where the hell is this locker? I swore I would have remembered to count that high yesterday.' Jaune thought with his head down looking at a crudely drawn map of the locker room an older student had offered anyone having trouble finding their locker, but it wasn't helping him find his. He was starting to panic since there was only around an hour until he had to get to the cliff for the start of initiation. He was so focused he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and bumped into Ruby who was hugging her weapon. 

"Hey! Watch where you're- Oh, hey Jaune!" Ruby exclaimed turning to see who bumped into her and seeing Jaune there in his clothes without armor over it, confused by this she asked, "You haven't got your stuff yet?"

Blushing at walking into someone but glad it was someone he knew he gave an embarrassed chuckle before responding, "Hey Ruby, sorry about that, I was trying to find my locker but can't seem to find it." He said pouting, getting a giggle from the girl and Yang who walked next to her.

"How's it going, Sir Knight? Enjoy your night sleep surrounded by beautiful girls~?" She asked, getting a blush from Jaune and Ruby.

"Morning to you to Yang, and while I did get some sleep last night, it wasn't the best given my attire." He replied, not responding to the second half of her question while pulling his clothing slightly to show had much looser and more aerated it was as compared to last night's attire.

"Shame you battle gear isn't as showing, I know I wouldn't have minded." Yang purred, getting a slap to the arm from Ruby and a sigh from Jaune.

"*Sigh* Can we not mention that ever again and please stop with the teasing? It's like having Tam here, and her teasing was one of the things I wanted to get away from." He said, muttering to himself at the end even if both Ruby and Yang could still hear him.

"Tam? Who's that?" Ruby asked with a tilt of her head.

"Yeah, Jaune? You talking about your girlfriend? Gotta say she got lucky with you." Yang added.

Shaking his head in denial Jaune at the two before they got any ideas. "No, no, she's not my girlfriend. Tam is short for Tamamo, one of my older sisters. She's the one who packed my bag with the shirt, and she had a habit of teasing me to no end." He explained with a sigh at the end. Tam was relentless in her teasing doing all she could to make him blush, whether it was whispering in his ear or asking for his opinion on "clothing." The worst was her "stories" she wrote. He was 100% sure Tam makes them just to tease him before deciding to sell them for a profit, given how surprisingly good she was at it. It's both great and horrifying how well they do, given the context.

"Oh, yeah, you mentioned you had a few sisters. I can barely handle Yang's teasing but having more sister to add, its gotta be so much worse." Ruby added. Yang, hearing this pulled her into a headlock to get back her and causing Ruby to start flailing around.

"If this sister of yours is anything like me. I look forward to meeting her one day," Yang stated, causing a shiver to run up his spine. He had only known Yang for less than a day, but given how much she likes to tease and flirt, she and his sister would get along too well for his liking and health.

"Nope, not going to let that happen. I don't need that in my life." He deadpanned back.

"Hey!" Yang cried in protest.

Rolling his eyes, Jaune walked past the two with a wave. "Anyway, I gotta find my locker, I'll see you two later.

Getting free from Yang, Ruby waved back, "See you Later Jaune!" which was followed by Yang's own farewells.

Walking down the room, Jaune finally spotted his locker which brought great joy to the blonde, however that joy was short lived as he saw was who standing next to it. Weiss, along with the redhead from yesterday who had on that fake smile again as she listened to Weiss give some sort of presentation. 'Oh, boy.' He thought.

Speaking to his locker behind Weiss, Jaune gave a slight nod to the redhead along with a finger up to his lip indicating he didn't want to be noticed, which she gave a nod in return. He went to his locker and tried to get his stuff out as quietly as possible, but Weiss suddenly turned around with a weird look on her face like she was planning something diabolical. Her eyes locked with his after a few seconds before she took a massive step back to stand next to the redhead. 

"It's you! What were you doing behind me?!" she exclaimed in slight disgust, getting another sigh from Jaune and a confused look for the redhead. 

"Do… you two… know each other?" she asked.

"*sigh*Yes." Replied Jaune

"No," Weiss denied clearly not happy that the blond boy was here.

Sighing at the look he got from Weiss, Jaune decided not to irritate the white-haired girl anymore. "Look I'm only getting my stuff. All the problems we have are just misunderstanding." He said, grabbing his armor and putting it on. 

Scoffing at the blond, Weiss decided to try and get Pyrrha on her side. "Whatever, if you want to call moaning in public and walking around shirtless as "misunderstanding" that's up to you, but for me, that's highly irresponsible behavior for any huntsman or huntress to have." She huffed out, getting a look from Pyrrha and another sigh from Jaune. 

"OK, look we got off on the wrong foot, can't we just forget about yesterday, please?" Jaune begged her getting an irritated sigh from her.

"Just don't talk to Pyrrha or me ever again and we'll be fine." She exclaimed, turning to the redhead to continue there talk and ignore the blond next to them. What she or Pyrrha didn't expect was what came out of his mouth next. 

"Who?"

Silence grated him as the two girls turned to look at him in disbelief, one in hope and another in irritation. "Who? What do you mean, "Who?" How do you not know who Pyrrha Nikos is?" Weiss asked in dumbfounded shock as she stormed over to him getting in his face.

Sweating at the close proximity and anger in her voice, he explained quickly. "I… just… never heard that name before… That's all."

Weiss pointed to the redhead who hadn't taken her hope-filled eyes off the blond boy and exploded "THAT is Pyrrha Nikos, please don't tell me you don't recognize her!?" she exclaimed in annoyance at his confused looks as his eyes traveled to the other girl who looked back. 

Jaune turned away with a slight blush and scratch of his check, "Well… I do recognize her…"

Weiss sighed in, and Pyrrha's heart sank as did her eyes to the floor at that. 

"But I only recognize her from the ride over. I waved at you, right?" Jaune asked, bringing her eyes back to him, and the dumbfound face to Weiss's. 

"What?" the girls said in unison.

"I waved at you right?" he said again, looking back to her.

"Yes, we waved at each other. Hello again, I'm Pyrrha." She said, extending a hand which he clasped back in a handshake and a smile. 

"I'm Jaune, its nice to me you." The young knight replied.

Weiss just watched the two-shake hand, still unable to comprehend anyone not knowing Pyrrha Nikos. Stepping between the two and pushing him away. "OK, that's a bit too close, how could you not know her, have you been living under a rock?" she asked.

"Well, my home is built into the side of a mountain, so yeah, I guess I have." He finished. The twitching growing ever bigger above Weiss's eye. Pyrrha knowing Weiss was going to tell him about her tried to stop the heiress but was too late.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum!" she explained like she was talking to a child.

"Congrats," he said to Pyrrha after hearing she was top of her class.

"Thank you!" she returned in kindness, annoying Weiss who tried to get Jaune to recognize how amazing Pyrrha was. 

"She's won the Mistral Region Tournaments four years in a row! A new record!"

"*Whistle* Wow, you gotta be a real badass to win so many times," he exclaimed with a nod and wide eyes as he looked at Pyrrha who blushed at his reaction which caused her to blush and rub her arm awkwardly.

"*chuckle* thanks," she said bashfully, averting her eyes. The two's interaction finally got to Weiss who couldn't handle it anymore and exploded.

"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!" She yelled, swinging her arms around in anger as she did. 

"Ooooh, yeah I remember that stuff now that I look at you. My little sisters love that stuff, even got me a hoodie with its mascot on it for a present last year. You're on that? I thought they only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters?" he asked, having finally clicked with something as he looked closer at Pyrrha now that he finally recognized her from somewhere. 

"Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you." She explained as smoothly as she could, she had finally found someone who didn't have much idea of her, and even when told of her accomplishments didn't show much care for them. Pyrrha knew at that moment that she wanted him as a partner and would gun for him as soon as she could.

Weiss not liking how well the two got along once again tried to become a wedge between the two. "So, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to be talking with her?" Weiss asked getting a confused look from Jaune and a strained smile from Pyrrha, she was getting fed up with Weiss's attempts to push Jaune away so they could be a pair, but after years of having to put up with people for her image, she couldn't bring herself to break her mask. 

"Why not? I don't see what it's got to do with my ability to talk to her, while it's cool she seems fine talking with me, so I don't see any problem right?" he asked confused by what Weiss was asking.

"Wha-, But its, your so- URG!" Weiss started storming off not wanting to deal with Jaune anymore.

"Oookaaay?" Jaune said confused even more so, he turned to Pyrrha for an explanation but got a shrug in return. Just giving up on whatever that was he turned to grab his weapons, placing Crocea Mors at his waist, his eyes landed on Excalibur. 

Jaune just stared, not knowing whether to take it or not. He was starting to have second thoughts about not using it, but if he kept doubting himself, then he would never move past his problems. "Just for now I won't be using you, please bear with my selfish request for now." He whispered to himself as he closed the locker, Jaune felt a slight warmth from the sword, hoping it was it allowing him to do this, he turned to head out but came face to face with Pyrrha who was still standing there watching him. 

Jumping he but a hand to his heart, "WHOA! Don't scare me like that. I thought you went with Weiss?" he exclaimed, getting a giggle from the girl. 

"Well she stormed off, so I thought it best to stick with you and let her cool down." She explained, she noticed him whisper to himself but didn't bother asking, may people talked to themselves to calm themselves or pray, so she expected he was doing something like that. Just as she was going to continue, Glynda's voice came over the speakers telling initiates to get to their assigned cliff face.

"Welp looks like its show time. Come on Jaune lets get to the cliff!" Ruby exclaimed as she came over to the two with Yang following behind.

"Ok Rubes. You want to walk with us, Pyrrha?" He said, turning to the redhead. 

"Yes, that would be lovely." She exclaimed moving to his side as Jaune introduced the three girls to each other as they made their way to the cliff. Yang and Ruby took a walk to get a look at the new girl Jaune had invited to walk with, and both thought they knew her from somewhere. It was Yang who was the first to recognize her.

"Hey, aren't you that girl who won the Mistral championship this year? She asked, getting Ruby also to recognize her as well. 

Hearing her ask this Pyrrha went slightly ridged and answered with a soft nod, "Yes, I'm the current champion of Mistral." She expected the usual fanfare of praise and admiration; she did get this somewhat form Ruby who appeared inform of her in a flash of rose petals and stars in her eyes. But not for her accomplishments but something else. 

"OH! I remember you! You had that awesome Javelin Xiphos Rifle, right?! Can I see it?! Please, please, please?!" she begged, hopping on her feet. Pyrrha wasn't expecting a question about her weapon and was lost for a moment, something both blonde member of the group saw and lightly laughed. 

Finally registering what Ruby asked she pulled her weapon, Miló, and showed to Ruby with a smile on her face, this is Miló, and the shield is Akoúo̱." She introduced, giggling at the sparkle in Ruby's eyes as she changed her weapon onto its three different forms to show it off.

"Cool~ It transforms so seamlessly between forms and the rifle's chambered in .308, while not as powerful as my Crescent Rose it will still pack quite a punch, and the recoil could be used to hit harder as well! Not the mention…" She would have continued going on about the weapon had Yang not covered her mouth to shut her up.

"Hehehe, sorry about my sis her. She's a bit of a weapon nerd, so she tends to go off about any weapons she's interested in." Yang said to Pyrrha, who just waved her off as she watched Ruby struggle to get Yang's hand off her mouth. 

Yang's eyes went wide as she quickly pulled her had away from Ruby's mouth. "EW SIS that's gross!" she said wiping her had on her jacket. Ruby had licked her hand to get free and was currently glaring at her sister.

"You should have let me go then when I was waving my hands around, it's your fault I had to resort to drastic measures." she huffed turning to Pyrrha with a sheepish smile "Hehehe, sorry about that, like Yang said I'm a bit of a weapon nerd so sorry about that."

"It's fine Ruby, it's quite refreshing to be asked about my weapons instead of my career, so I don't mind talking about it." She smiled back as the 4 made their way to the out of the building. 

"Speaking of your career, I hoped I could get around or two after initiation if you're interested?" Yang asked with a smirk that she returned. Pyrrha rarely got any challengers anymore, most gave up before the fight or were to star struck to put up a fight, so having someone straight up challenge her was great to hear as well. 

"I would love to battle with you later, Yang, don't expect me to go easy on you." She agreed, making her and Yang's smiles grow at the challenge. 

"You wouldn't have the chance to." Yang taunted back. Pyrrha was starting to like her choice at coming to Beacon.

XXX

The four finally made it to the cliff facing the Emerald Forest where twenty others were lined up. The four moved to the open spaces, each stepping on one of the metal platforms as they waited for the headmaster to start the initiation.

After a few minutes, Headmaster Ozpin finally began the initiation. "For years, you have trained to become warriors. Today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." He started his cane and cup in hand with Glynda stepping forward to continue with a scroll tablet in hand. 

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams." Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today." She stated in a matter of fact, her stern gaze moving over the line of potential students, her eyes did lock with Jaune's for a moment before carrying on, Jaune himself was finally getting a closer look at the blond woman he recognizes from somewhere. 

'OK, I'm sure I've seen her before but were?' he was trying to figure out where he knew her from, at first, he thought it was just the fact she looked like his sisters but his family aren't the only blonde's in the world so it can't be that, she was a well-known huntress so maybe he had seen her on the news or something, that was the most likely to him, but something in the back of his mind told him differently. 

Due to being focused on figuring this out, he missed out most of the instructions before a voice yelled out Next to him.

"WHAT?!" turning quickly to the voice he sees Ruby in a panicked state with the walking sugar rush talking loudly to the silent monk "See! I Told you!" 

Ozpin coughed to get the lines attention back including Jaunes confused look "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die." He finished dead seriously.

"Wha?" Jaune asked, he hadn't been listening so was utterly lost as to what was happening, turning to Ruby for some help she was too focused on Ozpin to notice his look.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?

Jaune raised his hand "What's this about pairs?" he was ignored.

"Good! Now take your positions." Ozpin said as people started getting into a position ready to be launched. Jaune still with his hand up doesn't pay attention to people being launched behind him. 

"Um… Sir can I ask you something." He said aloud getting the two teachers' attention, Wiess was launched without him noticing.

"Yes, Mr. Arc, what do you need?" he answered with a raised eyebrow as Glynda watched on next to him, Pyrrha went up next.

"Is it alright if you go over the start for me again? I was kinda lost in thought." He awkwardly chucked rubbing the back of his head, the Mow hawk guy from yesterday was launched next.

"And what pray tell had you so unfocused? He asked, getting another awkward chuckle, the orange energy went next with the green ninja following soon after.

"Well... I-I think I recognize Miss Goodwitch form somewhere but can't seem to place it and it's bugging me." He answered the two teachers looked at each other with Ozpin giving a chuckle and an eye roll and huff form Glynda, the tall Armoured man going next with only Jaune, Ruby and Yang remaining.

She turned to Jaune getting his attention, "While I'm touched you have some recollection of me, it would be best to focus on your initiation then on me, it has been nearly ten years since I last saw you." She said while Yang slapped on some shades and was launched up into the air.

"Ten years?" he questions, the pieces coming together as Ruby was sent after his sister, his eyes widened as it finally clicked where he knew her from, what he didn't realize was that was the click of his platform as well. 

"WAIT, MISS GLYNN *SNAP* NNNnnnnnoooooo-" he yelled before getting launched into the forest as the two watch him flailed in the air.

"Was it really necessary to launch him at that moment?" Glynda asked her boss as she turned to him, he just took a sip of his drink to hide his smile before stating "It was his turn to be launched and we can't be giving favoritism and let him wait here for the others to kill Grimm."

"You're one to talk about favoritism given Miss Rose's Age." She stated back getting Ozpin to turn to the forest and gaze out at the green sea of trees. 

"Dark times are ahead, and we need people like her now more than ever." He stated revising a sigh from Glynda as she rubs her eyes under her glasses.

"We shouldn't need them to, it should fall on our shoulders, not theirs." She stated while being quite young in comparison to most teachers at Beacon she had worked closely with Ozpin since she graduated early due to her powerful semblance and only spent a few years under Ozpin directly before becoming a teacher to protect the school and better teach students to defend themselves. 

"I know Glynda, but sadly, time is not on our side." 

XXX

"I HATE FLYING!" Jaune screamed as he flew, trying to steady himself.

As he reached the top of his flight arc and started descending, he finally managed to right himself but now had to try and come up with a landing strategy.

'OK, think! How do I land safely?! Tank it? No, it would waste too much aura. Land on a tree? No too much momentum! Damn it!' He screamed in his mind as he drew closer to the sea of green.

Not having much time left he drew his sword getting ready to stab into a tree and try to bleed off momentum, it would hurt, but it was the best plan he had at the time.

"OK! Gotta time this just right! THREE, TWO, ON-!", just before meeting the trees something caught his hood launching him in a different direction suddenly.

*OOF* Whatever caught him finally collided with a tree along with his back. Groaning in discomfort, he looked up to see that hit him, seeing a red and bronze spear he recognized it as Pyrrha's weapon from when she showed Ruby.

"I'm sorry!" came from the distance which he identified as Pyrrha, sighing he sent back a "Thank you!" before muttering to himself, "at least I've lost momentum." Trying to see the good in the situation.

Just then some bushes under him moved, looking down he saw Wiess come out of the bushes. The two's eyes locked as silence fell over them, Weiss' a glare and Jaune's an uncomfortable one. After a few seconds, Jaune decided to break it since it was starting to get awkward. 

"Soooo… how's it hanging?" he asked with a crooked smile and small laugh fidgeting as Weiss just stared him down.

"No." she finally said, turning around and walking away leaving Jaune up the tree. 

*sigh*" I should have expected that." He said, turning his head up to Pyrrha's weapon. Placing his hands on it, he pulled the spear free and dropped to the ground, brushing himself off and picked up his own sword that he lost when his back hit the tree. 

Looking to where Weiss walked, he could help but say aloud, "I feel sorry for whoever has to deal with her attitude for the next few years." "You came back!" he heard Ruby's voice call out almost the instant he finished talking in the same direction Wiess walked letting him know who that person was.

"Should have just kept my mouth shut," he sighed. "Well got to find Pyrrha and give her this back." He started taking off in the direction the throw came from hoping to find the champion before the Grimm does. 

After traveling for a few minutes, he came across his first group of Grimm, an Ursa Minor, and 4 Ursa Cubs. While called Cubs they were only slightly smaller than a Minor and without extra bones coming out of their back, they just had the masks on their faces indicating they had only formed not long ago.

"OK, the Minor is the biggest threat so I should target it first. They haven't noticed me yet so…" he whispered to himself. Activating his Aura giving him a slight glow for a second before dashing at the Minor's exposed back. Channeling Aura into his legs he leaped into the air, and as it turned to face him, having heard him running, Jaune drew Crocea Mors and beheaded the Minor, letting its body fall and saw it start to dissolve.

"I remove "it" first!" he yelled as he deployed his shield and faced the four Cubs now all started howling at him and after a few seconds two charged him. 

Getting into a basic Sword and shield stance, he waited for the first to attack. Its attack was a full swing at Jaune's head, he ducked under it and charged the second that was following behind, the first had blacked its vision, so it only saw a blue and silver blur appear below it before a sword was driven into its throat, ending its life.

Quickly pulling his sword free he ducked another swing form the first, spinning around at his lower level, he cut its hind legs off as he stood back up, causing it to fall to the ground where Jaune brought the edge of his shield on its masked face, crushing its head.

Hearing large footsteps, he turned to the two remaining cubs who started circling him. He narrowed his eyes as most young Grimm only charged in recklessly, but as he looked closer, he saw small bone like plates protruding from their shoulders and knees. 

He clicked his tongue in annoyance, it seemed these two were just about to evolve into Minors but had not gotten the spine spikes yet, so when he saw them from the back, he took them for more Cubs.

The two Minors had Jaune in between them and as he turned his head between the two, keeping his sword and shield between him and one of the two, his skills with both are still rusty in his opinion so he's playing more defensive than he usually would so he was content to wait for them to move.

It was the one facing his right that charged first soon followed by the other, seeing he would have to turn to face one he decided to do just that but not before collapsing his shield into a sheath and throwing it at the one on his left, hitting it directly on the snout disorientating it which make it stop.

Seeing this a very slight glow covered him as he dashed at the still charging Minor, he seemed faster than earlier in his run and easily slipped under the Ursa's swing, bring his sword up, with two hands, into its armpit and subsequently disarming it.

The Ursa roared in pain and tried to turn to swing again, but Jaune cut into the back of its leg causing it to go down as he stood behind it, taking a big swing he took its head off, leaving him with one more Ursa to go. 

Looking to the last Ursa, it finally recovered itself and began charging again, causing Jaune to sigh. "You may be a Minor…" He said to the angry bear that finally arrived, hoping to its back legs it pulled its paw back doing the same thing all the other had. 

Not wanting to do it dodge again, Jaune swung his sword quickly at its neck when it pulled its arm back and leaving itself open. "… but you're still only just one." He finished, its head falling away as its body fell past him dissolving like the rest.

Looking around the area for more Grimm and not seeing any he walked over to his shield, he picked it up and placed it back on his belt just as he was about to sheath his sword, clapping started from the right of his.

Turning with his sword pointed at the noise, he saw Pyrrha walking out of the forest with a smile on her face and her hands up in a clap. 

"Very impressive Jaune." She stated, seeing it was her Jaune took a breath and finally put his sword away.

"Don't scare me like that. I could have hurt you, ya know?" Jaune sighed out, putting his hand to his heart getting a giggle from the girl, "So, I believe this is yours?" he said pulling her weapon off his back getting a nervous laugh and blush from the girl who took it.

"Hehehe, Sorry?" She said, holding her weapon close to her chest as she fidgeted around.

Shaking his head, he smiled at her to try and calm the girl. "It's fine Pyrrha, I didn't have the best of plans anyway so thanks for the help." He smiled brighter at her, which she returned with one of her own. 

"You're Welcome. With that out the way, it appears we are partners as well?" she asked, a slight amount of hope making its way into her voice that Jaune didn't notice, he just nodded. 

"Yep, looks like your stuck with me." he joked, getting an eye roll and smirk from the girl. 

"I'm sure I'll be fine, I'm more than capable of protecting myself, with or without you." She answered in a serious and matter of fact tone, the slight twitch of her mouth showed she was trying to joke with him. 

Smirking back, he turned and sighed out loud as he teased her back, "Given you lost your weapon, I'm not so sure." This earned him a hit on the arm as he laughed.

"Hey! I didn't lose it, I knew where it was." She pouted with a glare that had no heat in it.

"And where was that? The middle of the woods?" he asked with sarcasm in his voice and a roll of his eyes.

"Why with my partner, of course." She stated in confidence, getting the two to laugh.

"If you say so. Would have sucked if I'd partnered up before you got to me. Like if I had gone with Weiss." He said, getting her to turn to him. 

"You saw Weiss? Then why wasn't she with you?" she asked, a bit glad the two didn't team up.

"Yeah… your spear hit a tree, and I was hanged on it, she showed up but turned and left almost as soon as she saw me," he answered, getting a gasp for her. 

"She left you?" she asked a bit but off with the fact she just left him to hang.

"Yeah, I technically hadn't landed yet, so I think it's fine." He waved her considered away, "Besides I don't think it would have gone well given her attitude towards me."

She could only nod and hum in agreement letting silence fall over the two. After a few second Jaune looked at Pyrrha with an embarrassed look on his face and asked her something, she didn't expect. 

"So, what are we doing? I kinda spaced out during the explanation." This earned him a laugh from his partner, causing him to blush in embarrassment. 

Finally pulling herself together, she smiled at him and told him they needed to get to the ruins in the north to get an artifact. So, the two headed out into the Emerald Forest, ready to face any obstacle to pass.

XXX

It had been minutes of walking in comfortable silence when the two came upon a small mountain with a cave leading deep into the earth, on the side of the entrance were crude cave drawing of people fighting what appeared to be a giant scorpion. 

Taking a closer look at the drawing Pyrrha suspected the cave led to a Death Stalker nest of some kind, but given how old the drawing was, it was hard to tell whether anything still inhabited the cave. She voiced her suspicions to Jaune, who nodded in agreement at her theory. 

"Your right. It's probably best to leave it alone for now. I highly doubt the artifacts are in there and it's not much of a ruin either." He said getting a nod from Pyrrha in return.

"But if there are Death Stalkers in the cave, shouldn't we eliminate them before continuing our mission?" She questions. She was looking for a fight to happen having watched Jaune's battle earlier it got her blood pumping and was itching for some combat, and a death Starker would provide a challenge.

Jaune however disagreed. "We don't really have the time to do that though. There are a lot more pairs heading for the ruin, and they only have so many spaces, so we should concentrate on that. When we finish, we can let the staff know about it, and they will send a team to clear it, or they'll just tell us it was already cleared." He finished getting Pyrrha to widen her eyes as she had let it slip her mind about how many others were gunning for the ruin.

"Your right, we should make haste before all the artifacts are taken." She stated as the two nodded at each other as they turned to move on.

*BOOOM*!

Until a massive explosion went off to the east of their location, scaring the two at how loud it was. They looked in the direction and saw a large black smoke cloud in the distance, it strangely had some hints of pink in it as well. 

"It seems one of our allies has a likeness for explosives," Pyrrha stated, the two gobsmacked by how loud the explosion was. 

"I know right, an explosion like that could draw a horde of Grimm given how much kick it had," Jaune added.

*SKARRRR*!

The two froze at the howl that came from the cave behind them turning to investigate the darkness of the cave. Both saw a red light moving quickly towards them. The two jumped back as the mouth of the cave exploded as a colossal Death Stalker rammed out of the entrance and giving off another screech. 

"AN ELDER DEATH STALKER?! WHAT THE HELL IS A B-CLASS DOING SO CLOSE TO BEACON?!" Jaune cried out in alarm at seeing such a high-class Grimm so close to a place like Beacon. There were regular patrols done, so you only ever saw E-class like the Ursa Cubs he fought earlier to maybe a C-Class like an Ursa Major if you got unlucky, but a B-class was extremely rare so close to a hunter academy.

"It was too big for the entrance, so it must have stayed in the cave for a long time to grow so large!" Pyrrha yelled back as the two took their stances. When she wanted a challenge, she didn't mean one that would be so life-threatening. "The explosion must have woken it up!" 

"Damn it," Jaune whispered to himself, he knew they couldn't yet face a B-class on their own without a lot of time and luck, something they didn't have either of.

The Elder Death Stalker had enough of their yelling and rushed the two, trying to catch the two with its pincers.

"I'll keep its attention! You try to take out its legs!" Jaune called out as the Death Stalker turned to him since he was slower then Pyrrha meaning more of its eyes were on him and thus so was its attention. 

"Right!" she called back as the two engaged the large Grimm. Jaune kept blocking and stabbing at its eye, keeping its attention on him while Pyrrha swung at it's tail and back legs trying to cut into them but having little luck given the bone like armor over its body. 

It wasn't until Pyrrha managed to cut into the joint of one of its legs did thing escalate. The Grimm screeched in pain and swung around to face Pyrrha, but in doing so, its tail swung around as well. Jaune seeing the large appendage heading towards him, he pulled his shield up to protect himself which it did. But in doing so was launched into the distance with how hard he was hit

"NOT AGAIIIIIINNN!" he yelled as he flew over the trees into the distance.

"JAUNE!" Pyrrha called as she watched him disappear over the trees, turning to the Grimm that was now facing her she gave a crooked smile before bolting off in the same direction her partner was launched, using the trees as natural barricades to slow the Grimm down as it chased her.

XXX

Ruby was keeping her streak of bad luck alive for the third day in a row with how her initiation was going. Having got stuck with Weiss as a partner had not improved their relationship with them having to work together but just strained it more with the two arguing with each other. This was proven when they ACCIDENTALLY burnt a section of the forest down, but that was all Weiss's fault no matter what the girl said. 

They had gotten lost, but Ruby came up with a great plan to travel to the ruins, it went quite well until she got to know which was falling towards the ground at high speeds.

"HEADS UPPPPPP! *UFF*" she cried out before a blue blur slammed into her sending it and her into a tree branch. Shaking her head to get rid of her dizziness at the sudden change in direction, she opened her eyes to see the face of her first friend at Beacon Jaune, his eyes swirls, suffering from his own dizziness.

Looking down, she blushed as she was straddling his lap as his back was to the tree, she looked up at his face seeing how close he was got embarrassed. Shuffling of his lap before he noticed she recalled how the 2 came together. 

"Jaune? How did you catch me?" she asked, bringing his attention to her and giving him something to focus on. 

Shaking his head his eyes fell on the red reaper and greeted her cheerfully, "Oh, Hey Rubes!" he averted his eyes and gave off a nervous chuckle, "well I wouldn't say "catch" more "bumped into."" 

"in Mid-air?" she deadpanned, getting another laugh. 

"Ruby!" A voice they recondited as Yang called from below. 

"Yang!" Ruby called back before jumping off the large branch the 2 were on. Jaune just sighed using the trunk as a support to stand, he decided to use his location to take in the area. He saw Ruby and Yang interact with that Orange girl jumping in, off to the side he spotted Blake and the pink striped hair guy as well.

"*hum*, so there are at least two pairs and given how Ruby arrived they can't be one of hers so who was her partner?" he questioned himself, looking around to try and spot any other person.

"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME!?" a voice shrieked from above. 

Looking up, he spotted a Great Nevermore flying around with a spot of white, looking closer he saw that spot was in fact, Weiss. 

"I SAID JUMP!" Ruby called back. Weiss then falling from the Grimm and heading toward the ground at high speeds. Seeing her not try to save herself, Jaune noticed he was close enough to catch her if he jumped out the tree. Sighing, something he had noticed he had done a lot today, he muttered to himself," well, you always wanted to be a hero." before launching himself out the tree to meet Weiss mid-air. 

Catching her in a bridal carry with a "got you!" the two fell to the ground, Jaune activated his aura to take the brunt of the damage as he landed on his feet, wincing at the light pain that shook up his legs.

Weiss looked up at who grabbed her and saved her from the fall to see the perverted boy holding her. "Put me down, you brute!" she yelled at him, blushing in embarrassment at being saved by him.

Jaune just rolled his eyes and placed her down feet first, "your welcome" he dryly replied as she brushed herself of any dirt, looking up at him when she "cleaned" herself she straightened her back and coughed into the fist.

"Ahem, Thank you for your assistance." She stated before moving off to scold her partner for her plan. Jaune was shocked at hearing her thanks but smiled none the less before following to the large group that was forming. 

When he arrived Pyrrha came sprinting out of the woods followed by the Death Starker, now in open plains he quickly caught up before swinging at her with one of its claws, launching her to the group and landing in front of them with a thud, Jaune went over to help his partner up.

"You ok Pyrrha?" he asked in concern, she gave a hesitant laugh before answering," I'm just grand."

Yang seeing everyone was there decided to state her opinion of the situation, "Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!"

Ruby however too it seriously and pulled her weapon out, "Not if I can help it!" she yelled before charging at the Elder starker with a battle cry.

"Ruby, wait!"

"Wait, you Dolt!" 

"No, stop." 

Ruby ignored their cries as she fired Crescent Rose and charged at the incoming Death Stalker. When the two meet, the Grimm was unfazed as hit swiped Ruby away and s knocked her back and to the ground.

"Ruby!" Yang cried as she charged out to her, followed closely by Jaune and Weiss, the three trying to reach the girl as fast as possible. 

Ruby staggered to her feet as she recovered from the hit, "D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" she called back before a cry from above drew everyone's attention the Nevermore that had been circling them from above.

Ruby seeing how outmatched she was started sprinting to meet the others, but the Nevermore flaps its wings and releasing lines of sharpened feathers with points that catch on Ruby's cape. 

Ruby!" Yang cried in alarm before getting pinned down herself by some feathers prevent her from reaching Ruby. Luckily Jaune and Weiss dodged the barrage and continued towards the stuck girl. "Ruby get out of there!" She kept yelling at her sister. 

"I'm trying! It's stuck!" Ruby called back, pulling on her cape to get it free to no successes. It wasn't till a shadow was cast over her that she looked up, the Death Starker loomed over her as it clicked its mouth, trying to instill as much fear in its pray before razing its stinger, preparing to strike the trapped girl. 

'WHERE NOT GONNA MAKE IT!' Jaune screamed to himself seeing the distance they still had to cover. He only had one option of reaching her in time, 'NOT UNLESS I DO THIS!' Just as he thought that his aura burst from his body covering him in a white wave, it was most active around his legs and as he looks his next step rocketed towards Ruby at a monstrous pace.

Ruby seeing the stinger failing towards her closed her eyes, she didn't want to die let alone watch it happen, she just wished it would have been of old age instead of a stupid mistake like this. 'I'm sorry, Dad, Yang, Mom… I messed up.' 

But it wasn't a searing pain that she felt but the screeching of steel that meets her. Carefully opening her eyes, she saw an armored back and short messy blond hair, she only knew one person who looked like that.

"Jaune?!"

Jaune was standing in front of her, his shield held above his head with both hands, the stinger pushing against it, "Hey Rubes. *URG* Kinda got my hands full." He grunted out as he held the stinger back, his feet scraping across the ground.

A moment later, a wall of ice encased the stinger allowing Jaune to stop and take a breath. Weiss had erected a barrier to trap the Death Starker and was now scolding Ruby for running into danger as she cut her free. Jaune took the time to catch his breath, his legs shaking slightly from the strain of moving so fast.

"And you! How on earth did you move so fast? Is your semblance Speed or something?" Weiss' voice said next to his ear, causing him to turn to the two girls in confusion. 

"I'm sorry, what?" he replied, having not been listening to her rant, something he suspected would become a habit.

Weiss seemed annoyed at his response given her glare, but before she could repeat her self, Ruby appeared in front of him in a flash of rose petals with stars in her eyes. "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY YOUR SEMBLANCE WAS SPEED!? WE COULD BE SPEED BUDDIES!" she exclaimed in excitement, thinking of all the fun the two could have running around at high speed. 

Finally understand they were asking about his speed he gave a nervous chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head, "hehehe sorry Ruby, but my Semblance isn't Speed or speed based." He told her, causing a confused look to take over both girls face. 

"What do you mean?" Ruby question first with a tilt of her head Jaune found adorable.

"Yes, I too would like to know how you moved so fast if your Semblance isn't a speed based one." Weiss agreed with Ruby, she could move fast with her glyphs, but she needed to project them first, and it took too long to reach Ruby, if it weren't for Jaune her partner would have been killed, an unpleasant thought. 

"Well… to cut an explanation short my Semblance is Aura Amplification. He said as he looked over his shoulder at the screeching Death Stalker as it tried to pull itself free. 

"Aura Amplification? What does it do?" Ruby continued to ask with Weiss nodding along, both were interested in learning about the blonde's semblance.

"I'll be glad to tell you later, but for now let's get back to the other. He said to bring the twos attention back the situation. After giving him a nod the three jogged back to the ruins where Ruby got a bone-crushing hug from Yang, no one noticed the slight limb Jaune had running back except for Ren who gave him a look. Seeing it, Jaune just shook his head and mouthed 'Later' to the other male, while not happy with the decision they had other problems to deal with.

"Hey, guys? That thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?" Jaune said to the group as the Nevermore cried above them, circling around for another attack. 

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss stated bringing everyone's attention to the pedestals in the center of the ruin, on each was placed a chess piece in black or gold, some of them were missing among them the Gold rook and knight that Nora and Yang were currently holding.

"She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things." Ruby followed up her partner, turning to Jaune as she knew him and Pyrrha were the only pair without a relic like her team.

Jaune nodded along, "they're both right, we should just get our artifacts and run, not to mention were not exactly qualified to fight 2 B-class Grimm. It would be best to leave them to more seasoned huntsmen." He finished getting nods all around as he and Ruby moved up to the pedestals each taking a gold rook and knight respectively. 

They give each other a smile before they drop as the sound of cracking comes from the direction go the Death Starker.

"Time to leave." The green boy says who they now knew was named Ren when his partner, who was called Nora, told each other's name. 

"Right, let's move out," Ruby called out as the group of eight ran back into the forest and towards the cliff.

XXX

The group had been running at full speed through the forest before coming to a clearing with another set of ruins at the base of the cliff indication they were close to the end. The ruins were believed to be an old lookout and were situated in the middle of a deep ravine with many pillars and platform were standing. But sadly, they were soon set upon by the Great Nevermore that now had a line of sight of them, now they were out of the forest and in the open. It perched itself on top of an ancient lookout tower at the base of the cliff before giving a screech. 

"Well, that's great!" Yang huffed out as everyone took cover in the ruins. Just then, the Death Starker burst from the trees behind the group. 

"Crap! Run!" Jaune called out as he sprinted out of cover towards the bridge that went over the ravine closely followed by Pyrrha and the others who followed his lead. 

The Nevermore seeing it had an ally began taking to the air again, seeing this Ren instructed Nora to "Distract it!" Which Nora obliges, running out from her cover and dodging through the feathers the Nevermore had launched into the opening. She came to a stop in the middle of the open field and reached behind her and grasped her weapon, a grenade launcher and launching several heart-topped shells from its payload. Giggling at her attack the grenades bursts into pink electricity when they hit the Nevermore, causing it to retreat.

Lost in her excitement, she was unaware of the Death Stalker rushing up behind her until Blake and Ren perform a cross-slash with their own weapons, a Katana/Clever combo and a pair of Pistol Knives, against its shell. Weiss landed next to Nora and created a jumping platform with her semblance beneath them and leap to safety while Blake and Ren were now the Starker's targets.

Jaune and Pyrrha were the first to reach the bridge and looked back to see the overs making their way over with the Death Starker close on their tails. Pyrrha pulled Miló from her back and transformed it into its rifle configuration before taking a knee and started firing at the Death Starker, aiming for its eyes in hopes of slowing it down. 

"Come on! Let's go!" Jaune called as people started making it to the bridge. The eight raced over the ancient stone bridge, not noticing the Nevermore closing in on them until it smashed its giant form in the middle of the bridge, forcing Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, and Jaune closer to the central collection of columns. Leaving Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha on the other side with the Death Stalker blocking their path back to solid ground. 

Ruby fires at the retreating Nevermore while the others fought the scorpion with Blake taking a hit and being pushed back. Seeing them in trouble Jaune took note of the distance and knew he could make it without pumping more aura into his legs with his semblance, but his legs were already aching for doing that to protect Ruby.

"Damn it, they need help, but I can't make that jump." He said aloud to himself, not expecting Nora to have heard him and moved next to him, her weapon in hand.

"Let's do this!" she said determined, getting a funny look from Jaune.

"How?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she smiled and smacked him in the stomach with her weapon, getting a "Hey!" from him before spinning her weapon, changing it into its melee form, a war hammer. Watch her leap off the front of the bridge and turning around with it over her head. Jaune knew what she was doing and paled. "No! Wait!" 

He was too late as she brought the hammer down. Like a seesaw, she launched Jaune over the canyon with a cry of "NOT AGAIN!" Nora placed her feet on the head and faired, using the recoil to ride her weapon over the others and slamming down on the Death Starkers head, setting the weapon off again to dodge its stinger that tried to stab her.

Jaune had a rough landing mainly on his face but was quick to recover, standing and drawing his sword, he watches as Nora came in to attack and dodge back but him her haste knocked into Blake and knocking her off the edge. "Blake!" he called in alarm, moving to the edge. He sighed in relief, seeing her swing away with her weapon, it seemed it could turn into a Kusarigama, and she could use it as a grappling hook. 

See Blake on at the other side standing with Ruby, Weiss, and Yang he turned to face the Death Stalker with his own group, extending his shield out as they met their own Grimm. The death Starker was smart being so old and seeing the bridge fall it stabbed its stinger into bridge next to the solid ground, breaking its connection and causing it to start falling.

"We have to move!" Jaune called, charging the Death Stalker with the others following, 'time to start using it properly' he said to himself, his aura coming alive once more but not nearly as bright as before, but softly covering him.

He was the first to reach the Starker, and it took the chance to swing one of its claws at him, he stopped and bore the brunt of the attack as Pyrrha leaped over him and swing at its joints, getting it to back off. It came in again with Pyrrha blocking this time with Jaune coming around her and stabbing at its eyes managing to catch one and causing it to shriek in pain. 

Ren came in next firing his dual SMG's at its face. Annoyed by the small caliber rounds, it tried to stab him with its stinger, but the boy agilely dodged and grasped on it, being pulled along. He used his new position to fire at the joint of the stinger cause the Grimm more pain. 

Nora having transformed her weapon back into a launcher, started firing on the Death Stalkers face which it used its claws to cover itself. Jaune and Pyrrha use its distraction to attack its joints more before it flung out its claws out knocking the two back, as the two landed next to Nora, Pyrrha used the small opening in its craws to launch her weapon in spear form with a crack of its rifle into its eye. Screaming in pain, it wiped its tail away, causing Ren to lose his grip and get launched into a stone wall. 

"ARR!" He cried as he fell to the ground in pain.

"Ren!" Nora cried in worry for her friend.

Jaune looked at the work Ren did and noticed the stinger hanging by a small thread. "Pyrrha! Stinger!" he called out getting her attention on the stinger and knowing what he wanted her to do.

"Done," she replied, throwing her shield like a disk and severing the stinger from the tail. The weight of it carried it into the head of the scorpion and dug deep causing more pain. 

"Nora nail it!" Jaune called again turning to the girl with his shield above his head.

"Heads up!" She called back, leaping on to the shield. Jaune infused more of his aura and semblance into his legs, making them flair in pain but pushed through as he drove up as hard as he could. Nora to fired her weapon to get more air. Letting gravity do its work, she started falling, she shot again to get more speed and nailed the stinger into the Death Starker's head, killing it instantly but also repeating what she did to Jaune earlier and launching the three up into the air. 

Each landed with Nora on her butt, Pyrrha in a superhero landing like in movies and Jaune on his feet before stumbling onto his own back, he had but to much strain on his legs. Ren moved over to the three from falling on his face.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Nora yelled out, starting Jaune and Pyrrha but not Ren, he was too tired and use to her antics to care at the moments. "LET'S DO IT AGAIN!" she followed with a massive grin on her face. 

"NO!" All three yelled back getting a pout form the girl.

"How's everyone's aura?" Jaune asked, getting the others attention. Each pulling out their scroll to check. 

"I'm at 60%," Pyrrha said, only taking a few hits the worst for earlier at the ruins. 

"80" Nora followed she never took any hits and only spent it on her speed and power.

"30%," said Ren, bringing everyone's attention to him, "I don't have a lot of Aura." He confessed, while proficient at using his aura, he didn't have the largest reserve. 

"Here, give me your hand" Jaune instructed getting confused looks all around. Not wanting to argue Ren did and the aura around Jaune traveled onto Ren before blending into his own aura. He sighed at the warm feeling that spread over his body and a notice from his scroll brought is attention to it. His eyes widened in shock as he watched his aura meter rise back up to above 50% and continued rising. 

"How are you doing that?" he asked in shock as he showed them his scroll. Both Pyrrha and Nora turned to him with wide eyes themselves. He just chuckled nervously as he let go of Ren.

"It's my Semblance, it's called Aura Amplification, and it lets me boost the properties of Aura. I usually use it to boost my own strength and speed. I learned that if I'm in contact with people, I can give them the boost as well." He explained, impressing the three at the usefulness of his semblance. 

"Is that how you saved Ruby?" Pyrrha asked, happy at getting such a great partner. He was kind, funny, and had a strong semblance, his sword and shield skills could use some work, but that could easily be fixed later. 

"Yeah, I push the power into my legs to get more speed, but I kinda wasn't supposed to do that." 

"What? Why?" Pyrrha asked in worry. 

"Well, while I can amplify my strength and speed, I also have to boost my durability as well or else I end up hurting myself." He said as he rubbed his legs, trying to get the feeling back into them. 

"Why, though?" Nora asked she was confused as to why he had to do such a thing, shouldn't his aura protect him anyway. 

"If my body can't handle the extra strain the boost gives me, I end up hurting myself. I've only had my semblance for a few months so I'm still not used to boosting up so fast so I have to boost myself slowly so my whole body can adapt. He explained getting nods all around. 

"And the fact it boosts aura it can boost the regenerative properties as well." Ren guessed getting a nod from the blonde.

"If you can do that does that mean you have infinite Aura?!" Nora question, getting close to his face with a wide grin, he shuffled back to get some room before shaking his head in the negative.

"No, while I can boost the regen of others, I can't do that on myself, even then, my own regen is higher than most." He exclaimed, get the girl to back off a bit. 

"Still its quite a powerful Semblance Jaune, you should be proud." His partner said with a smile one in which he returned. The four final stood back up to see how the others were doing and as they turned to watch the saw Ruby running up the cliff, her scythe blade around the Nevermore's neck before reaching the top and beheading it, its body falling into the ravine to dissolve.

"wow…" Jaune said, getting nods from the others. We better get up there, I'm done staying this forest for today." He said, getting more nods. As he moved to walk away, he buckled slightly, Pyrrha coming over to offer a shoulder with a worried expression," seams I pushed it a little too hard, could you give me a hand back?" he asked getting a smile and nod from his partner.

The 4 moved to meet the other, finally finished with initiation.

XXX

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." Ozpin's voice washed over the crowd of the auditorium as the fours pictures came up on the screen, "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!" he finished getting clap form the audience as they moved off stage. Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren went up next standing in a line, their picture coming on the screen next. 

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR." He stated. Nora, giving Ren a hug as the boy just stood there. A few whispers started up at the name 'Arc,' Weiss's voice could be heard behind them as she yelled, "an Arc?!". Pyrrha herself turned to the blonde with a shocked look. Seeing this he just gave her a small smile, he didn't really want anyone to know he was from a famous warrior family, but it was bound to come out so just work with it.

"Led by… Jaune Arc!" Ozpin finished getting a shocked look from the blonde.

"M-me? I'm the leader?"

"Congratulations young man."

Jaune didn't expect to be made the leader, he also wasn't expecting Pyrrha to hit his arm in excitement for him. It stung a bit, so he rubbed his arm." Please, Pyrrha please don't hit my arm, my legs are already sore." He asked, getting a guilty look and quick, "I'm Sorry!" in response. He just waved it off as they made their way off stage for the others. 

When they were off, they watch Ruby, Wiess, Blake, and Yang be made into Team RWBY and Ruby being made the leader, getting claps all round and a whistle from Nora. Ruby looked as shocked as he was at being made a leader, but he gave her an encouraging nod which she smiled back to. 

"Looks like its gonna be a fun year."

XXX

 **And that the chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it. What are people thought on Season 6 so far? I'm enjoying it (even if I've only seen the first ep)**

 **Jaune Semblance has come into play, and I hope people like what I've done with it. In the show we have only ever seen him use it on others and not himself so I went with a Kio-Ken meets One for All with how it affects himself, I also but some restriction on it but ill be going more into it in the next chapter so look forward to that.**

 **One thing I would like to point out the Classes I gave the Grimm. That's because the show does a horrible job of making them a threat for the main cast while everyone else acts like a brain-dead child while fighting them while the main cast just mows them down. I hope by adding a Class system, it better shows the type of level they are at. With that, I will be mentioning a class system for the Hunters as well, so I can set up a power scale for the story.  
**

**The final thing to mention is the poll for the romantic partner, and I'm planning on removing the Haram option form the list. Having thought it over and talked with Pintner, I don't think I could pull off a haram story, a least for my first time. I may do one in the future, but at the moment I don't think I'm countable with my righting skill to write a story like that and give each character the attention they deserve. I'm sorry if anyone wanted this story to be one. As well as that we talked about the pairing and I may be leaning towards a specific pairing but ill wait and see what the poll says if its overwhelming one then it will be that pair, but if it's close, I may just go for the one I'm leaning towards. We have a few more chapter to go before I decide, but we will just have to wait and see.  
**

**That's all then, I hope you enjoyed Chapter Three, and I will see you again soon.  
**

**Malluk**


	4. Chapter 4 - The Weight of Responsibility

**Heyo, Malluk here with chapter 4 of Knight of Hunters! I got a lot of positive feedback from the last chapter, and I thank you all for your support and hope to continue to entertain you with my story.**

 **A happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers as well and hope you all had a good holiday.**

 **I'll leave it till the end to talk about some of the stuff that has happened and let you all enjoy the next chapter.  
**

 **RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay Night is the property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting, only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Please support the original products.  
**

 **Edited by: M.H. Pintner**

 **(UPDATED: 25/01/19)**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 _ **The Weight of Responsibility**_

It was the morning after initiation, those that had passed were currently sleeping soundly, resting form the previous day's trials, only the chirping of the birds and whistling of the wind filled the air around the first-year dorms.

*FWEET*

Until a wind filled whistle filled the air from one of the rooms.

"Urggg" Jaune groaned out having heard the blasted noise. Yawning and stretching out he looks in his surroundings, a standard t-shirt on his body having stabbed last night's shirt to death in place of his sister's no doubt smug face. The room was quite spacious with four desks and four beds located in the room, the door in and out of place opposite him and his team's beds. To his left the bathroom and changing room and to the right the rooms small Kitchen and living room.

Casting his eyes over his team, he saw them all still asleep. No surprise, since with so many people living in such a large place like a Keep, his parents had to get creative about getting them up for breakfast. So like all his sister he was conditioned to wake at the sound of a bell or in this case a whistle. Nora the farthest from him and was sprawled out over her bed, Ren who was next to his childhood friend slept like a log in his bed, only the slight movement of his chest indicated he wasn't dead. And finally separating the two by a bookshelf was his bed neighbor and partner Pyrrha how was curled up into a ball hugging her pillow, her crimson hair making its best impression of Nora with being all over the place, it was quite cute in his opinion especially with her drooling as well.

Chuckling to himself he checked his scroll, seeing nine new messages, most were from his family who congratulated him about getting into Beacon. It warmed his heart to see the support his family give him but was sad that to one person's congratulations was missing. Instead, the final message was an alert from the school itself. Opening the message and reading its content he nodded along until he finished and took a look at his team once more. After seeing the news, he got up and quietly made his way to the bathroom to get ready for the day and letting his team rest longer.

After finishing, he came out with a simple orange t-shirt and jeans on instead of the Beacon uniform and was making his way over to the kitchen to start making breakfast until the sounds of hammers and power tools lightly filled the air confusing the new team leader.

"What in Oum's name?" he asked aloud, making his way out into the corridor and making sure to close his room's door quick to block the louder sounds and turning to see it come from his neighbor across the hall, team RWBY's room. The corridor itself had 6 doors with an extra two around the corner, each team had two doors, one to the bedroom and the other to the living room.

Taking the few steps to reach the door that lead to the all-girl team's bedroom he knocked on the door with a little force to make it herd over all the noise.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

At the knocks the room went silent, Jaune waited patiently for the door to open as he could hear whispers come from the room. From what he could tell they were worried they had angered someone with the noise and were trying to get someone to answer the door and face whoever had come to complain.

When the door finally opened the head of the young Ruby Rose crept out from behind the door frame, her head facing down, so she didn't see it was Jaune as she gave a nervous chuckle, "Hehehe, morning…." She said, head still down, looking at Jaune's feet.

"…."

"…."

"…."

"We're sorry about the noise!" she finally cried out, keeping her head down in shame. Jaune thought she kinda looked like a sad puppy with her head down, he could see some ears and a low hanging tail in his head and found it adorable. He had seen his Faunus sister's sad, so he had a good idea of how she would look, and it caused him to chuckle at how cute she looked.

"Hehehe, don't look so down Ruby, I'm not that mad." He said getting the girl to finally look up and see it was him, a smile making its way into her face at seeing him.

"Oh! Morning Jaune!" she greeted with a wave.

"Morning Rubes, so what are you up to this morning?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and slight smirk, one thing he noticed when she finally looked at him was a smudge of dirt on her face like she had been working with machines or something, confusing him more. Hearing his question, she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment and laughed nervously again.

"Well, my team decided to make our beds into bunk-beds to give us more room, not to mention that it would be awesome." She explained with a bright smile on her face and eyes closed.

"You're making them? Why not just ask for some from the school?" he questioned. Getting no reply, he had a good guess.

"You didn't think to ask, did you?" Jaune deadpanned

"I didn't think to ask." She confirmed, head falling again. "At least it's a team bonding exercise." She tried to add, getting an eye roll from the boy.

"Who's at the door Ruby?" the young girl's partner asked as she moved to stand next to her, looking at who was at the door she schooled her express at seeing it was Jaune. After learning that he was of the Arc family, she had scolded herself for speaking so poorly to the boy. The Arc family was well known for its power, his mother and oldest sisters were three of the mightiest female huntresses on the planet. Even with his oldest sister being so young she was well known for winning the previous Vytal Festival like she was fighting children and his other oldest sister was not only powerful as well but had great influence with her singing and dancing carrier not to mention that history books were filled with the family's name. Simply put, being an ally of the Arc's was a great boon, one she hoped she had not squandered.

"Good morning Mr. Arc." She polity greeted, causing confusion for Jaune and Ruby alike.

"Moring to you as well Weiss, and please call me Jaune." He greeted back.

She gave a short nod back, "Of course Jaune. How can we help you this morning?"

"I was just wondering what you guys were up to at…" he lingered checking his scroll for the time, "8:55 in the morning. Ruby said you were making bunk beds." He finished looked at Weiss who had gone stiff. "Weiss? What's wrong?"

"What did you say?" she whispered out getting confused looks from the two leaders.

"I was just wondering what you guys were up to?" he answered in a questioning tone.

"No, you dolt! After that!" she yelled out getting the two to jump in surprise at her increase in volume.

"What? You mean it being 8:55?" he asked again.

"DID YOU SAY 8:55! CLASS STARTS AT 9 O'CLOCK!" She yelled out with a panicked look, one Ruby soon had herself.

"OH NO, WE CAN'T BE LATE ON OUR FIRST DAY."

"BLAKE, YANG HURRY UP WERE GONNA BE LATE!" Weiss yelled into the room.

"WHAT!?" two voices yelled back as the two other members of RWBY came to the door.

"Then what are we standing around here for?! Let's go!" Yang yelled out seeing Jaune at the door, not in his uniform, "Morning Sir Knight, you better grab you uniform and team if you don't want to be late."

"I don't see why I should change." He answered back getting confused looks from all the girls.

"What do you mean?! Class starts soon!" Weiss yelled at him, annoyed at his dismissal of classes, she expected better from someone from the Arc family.

"I don't see a point because classes are canceled." He said, confusing them more.

"Wha-?" said Ruby

"Excuse me?" said Weiss

"What?" said Yang

"…" Blake said nothing and raised her eyebrow.

Jaune rolled his eyes, bring his scroll out. "We got a message this morning about it." He said getting the girls to pull their own out themselves to see and they all had the same message.

"What's it about?" Ruby asked.

"Turns out they pushed the lessons back a day due to the Grimm we faced yesterday." He confirmed getting all the girl's attention again. "They didn't expect such high-class Grimm so close to Beacon and by proxy, Vale. So, they canceled the lessons so the teachers can check for any other high-class Grimm." He finished getting nods from three of the girls, Ruby giving a tilt of the head and confused look.

"High-class Grimm? What do you mean?" she asked innocently, getting everyone's attention. Confused looks from Jaune and Blake, an understanding look from Yang and scowl from Wiess.

"I'm not surprised you don't know, you learn that in Year 4 of Primary school." Yang said getting an "Oh" from Ruby and nod from Blake and Jaune, Weiss still looked annoyed.

"We can talk about it over Breakfast, I was about to start it for my team, so your welcome to join. I recommend changing into something more comfortable since you don't need your uniforms for the day." Jaune said getting looks from all the girls.

"You cook?" Yang asked, a slight grin making its way to her lips, Jaune didn't understand what she was implying.

"Yeah, my sister taught me how when I was young, we would usually cook for the family, so I'm alright at it, not as good as her though." He finished.

"We would be glad to join you for Breakfast Jaune!" Ruby said getting a smile from the boy.

"Great I'll get started in a bit, gotta wake the team first, see you in a bit. He finished turning and going back into his room, his teammates still sound asleep. As much as he wanted to let them sleep, they were having guests and being the team leader, it was his job to wake them.

"Time to get up guys!" he yelled out get three different reactions. Nora shot up in an instant, chanting "Its morning~!" as she seemed to teleport around the room, Jaune thought she was on his shoulders at one point but chose to ignore her. Ren arose from his slumber like a classic movie monster, taking a scan of the room before giving his leader a nod and a "Good Morning" before Nora leaped at him, tackling the two to the floor as she talked non-stop to the boy.

The last member of team JNPR, however, was apparently not one for waking up early as Pyrrha just gave an annoyed moan before pulling her sheets closer and snuggled into herself more. Seeing this Jaune moved over to his partner, ignoring the small pile of his other teammates.

"Pyrrha, its time to get up." He softly said to the girl.

"Don't wanna. Comfy." She replied from within the sheets getting an eye roll from the blonde. A smirk made its way to his face as he thought of how to get her up.

*Sigh* OK then, you can stay in bed, but just to let you know its 9:05, classes start at 9 o'clock." He finished, trying to hold back his laughter as he waited for the inevitable.

It took a few seconds for Pyrrha to comprehend what Jaune had told her before she shot out of bed in a panic. "WERE LATE!" she cried before dashing into the bathroom while still calling back to Jaune "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?!" she demanded.

Jaune couldn't take it and burst out laughing at seeing Pyrrha reaction. While it was fun seeing RWBY's response, they were already dressed and mostly ready, but Pyrrha was a total mess and to see her so panicked was quite funny to Jaune.

"What's so funny? Were late!" she asked as she came back out of the bathroom, she looked like a mess, her hair was all over the place, not having the time to fix it. She didn't have any of the light make-up she usually wears, not that Jaune thought she needed it, and her uniform was clearly thrown on. "And you're not even in your uniform!" she pointed out as Jaune brought himself back under control.

"Well my dear partner, while it is past 9 o'clock when classes start, today's classes have been pushed back till tomorrow, so I don't need to wear it." He told her with a dismissive shrug, a smirk plastered on his face at seeing her gobsmacked look.

"You-you-you tricked me?" she asks in disbelief, getting a nod from the boy. Seeing this she gave him a glare and pout, "That's mean Jaune." She told him getting a guilty smile from the boy.

"Sorry Pyrrha, it was the only way to get you up. Besides I'm about to make breakfast and were having team RWBY over, so you would have had to get up anyway." He told her with Ren and Nora listening in, they had been shocked at learning the time but were already awake so didn't panic as much as Pyrrha.

"Classes are canceled, why?" she asked having classes be dismissed for the day more of a priority then scolding Jaune for his prank.

He nodded back "Yeah, they wanted to check the forest for any more high-class Grimm. Like us, they didn't expect there to be anything above a C-class so close by, so they want to check and make sure there aren't any more lurking around Vale." He finished getting nods from his team. "Alright then, how about you all get ready while I start breakfast?" he said getting confirmation from the rest of the team before making his way into the kitchen area.

The Living area held a dining table with four chairs, a sofa, two one seater sofas, and a tv. It was simple but comfortable for four people. 'I'm gonna have to ask Ruby to get her own chairs if we want to eat together.' Jaune thought to himself while checking what they had in the kitchen. They were well stocked, enough to feed four people for at least a week but after that, it was up to students to get their own. The school gave the first years a weekly allowance for food and supplies, but when or if teams get to the second year, they have to pay for themselves since they can start taking low-level missions.

Jaune spent the next few minutes getting his prep work done, getting out the ingredients and heating his equipment. Ren was the first of his teammates to enter the room and moved next to him. Looking over Ren just gave him a smile, he wore some white trousers, a green long-sleeved shirt open with a black t-shirt underneath, it had a white strip going down the front just off center. Over it he wore an apron, Jaune chuckled slightly see it say _**"Please do nothing to the chef**_ **"** knowing that was directed at the boy's partner. The two just worked in silence until a knock came to the door. Leaving Ren to hold the kitchen Jaune walked over and was greeted to the sight of them RWBY in what he guessed were their casual wear.

Ruby was dressed in a black vest with a red hoodie over it, black shorts that were furred around the edges and black tights. Weiss was in a white shirt and blue skirt that went down to her ankles, a black belt/bow divided the two pieces and completed the look. Blake wore black jeans, a purple shirt and white jacket over the top. And finally, Yang was in a dark orange crop top, and skinny blue jeans, a Kiaki bomber jacket with its sleeves rolled up finished her own look. Jaune had to say they all looked good, having grown around so many girls he natural picked up on what seemed good being the back-mule on the dreaded shopping trips and liked what he saw.

"Hey, Jaune! Can we come in?" Ruby stared out, looking forward to getting a homemade breakfast.

"Sure Ruby, but you may want to grab a few extra chairs from your room since ours only has four."

"I'll go grab them." Yang piped up with Blake following along.

Nodding at the two girls, the three entered the room with Ruby and Weiss sitting down at the table as Jaune joined Ren in the kitchen to continue cooking. Yang and Blake soon came into the room with two chairs each in hand for the team as Jaune and Ren started plating up different foods, the girls just sat and chatted to pass the time while the two males did their job, not paying any mind to the girl's conversation.

"Something smells great!" Nora's voice called out as the two females of JNPR entered the room and sat down at the table. Nora wore black short-shorts held up with a pink belt, white and pink striped stocking and pink pullover hoodie and Pyrrha wore a dark brown polo-neck jumper with a scarlet skirt and black tights, her tiara sat atop her head as well.

"Well, we're just about done. Come grab a plate and help yourselves." Jaune called out to the girls as he placed the last plate of food down. Since there was only one table, they decided to go for a bar like spread on the kitchen island, it held all different breakfast items like bacon, sausages, toast, eggs, hash browns, fresh fruits and, much to Nora's delight, pancakes.

The girls took a plate and started filling them with their choice of food before crowding around the table, Jaune pacing a pot of coffee and tea with a beaker of orange juice, milk, and water to finish the breakfast before getting his own plate. As the group eats, they had some small talk, not wanting to burden the meal with any heavy subject, mainly they talked about what they expected tomorrow's lessons would be like and their joy of getting into Beacon.

After about an hour of eating they took RWBY's chairs back as they washed up before sitting around the living area. Pyrrha took one of the single couches with Ren taking the other, Nora squishing in next to him with team RWBY taking the sofa, Jaune pulled one of the chairs around in front of the TV.

"OK now that we've eaten, I can answer Ruby's question from earlier." Jaune started getting everyone's attention.

"What question was that Jaune?" Pyrrha asked with Nora and Ren nodding with her.

"I wanted to know about this 'Grimm Class' thingy. Being moved forward two years kind of dented my academics, Hehehe." Ruby nervously stated getting understanding looks from those around her, Weiss slightly twitched at hearing this, but no one noticed.

"It's ok Ruby," Yang stated out. while she was happy she could go to Beacon with her sister, the blonde brawler knew it was going to be much harder on the younger girl having to skip two years of information that she would have to catch up on. "We'll help you catch up." She finished getting nods from most everyone, this caused a smile to make its way onto the young rose's face.

"Thanks, guys."

"No problem Rubes." Jaune smile at his fellow leader which she returned. "And for your first lesson, we'll look at the basics for the Grimm classification system." He finished getting a determent nod from Ruby.

"As of now there are six classes or ranks a Grimm can be placed under, they are ranked from E-class to S-class." Jaune started getting a nod from Ruby in understanding and nods from the others to indicate what he said was accurate.

"To make it easier to explain, I'll use a Beowolf as the example since it covers most classes."

"What do you mean?" ruby asked curiously.

"Grimm can evolve over time, so when they get older, they may evolve into a high-class Grimm. A normal Beowolf is a Class-D Grimm, but if they live long enough, they evolve into an Alpha Beowolf and move up into the C-class, understand?"

Ruby nodded. "So, the older a Grimm is the higher class it is?" she asked getting a so-so gesture from Jaune.

"Mostly but size and power also play a roll in where a Grimm might be placed. A Baby Goliath, while younger then an Alpha Beowolf would be in the same class given their size and power. So, it fluctuates between species." He explained getting a nod from the Rose girl.

"So, what can we expect from each class?" She asked getting a smile and nod from Jaune.

"Alright. First is E-class, this mostly comprises the young Grimm, like Beowolf Pups, Ursa Cubs or Nevermore Hatchling." He stated. "They usually only have a mask on their face with no extra bones coming off their body. Given how young they are their masks may also not have any red markings yet." He explained getting Ruby to hold her hand up like in a classroom. Chuckling at this he pointed at her. "Shoot."

"Well, back at Patch I fought some Beowolves that didn't have masks, why is that?" she asked, getting a few confused looks from those around her.

"I've Never heard of mask-less Grimm, but they must have just been very young to not have had masks if I had to guess," Jaune stated with a shrug.

"Oh, ok what about the higher classes? I already have an idea of E to C, what about the top three?" she asked, a bit of excitement in her voice.

"Well, you already know what a B-class is as well since we killed two of them yesterday." He told the young Rose who gasped in excitement at learning the news.

"Really?! We must be so cool." She excitedly said, giddy at the idea they took down Grimm above their skill group. The group laughed at her expression even Weiss's lips twitched up at seeing the girl exited.

"While it was cool, there are only supposed to be at most C-Class Grimm so close to Beacon and epically Vale. The appearance of B-Class Grimm so close could cause panic, so that's why the teachers are taking the day to make sure no more are nearby." He finishes, everyone went silent at that revelation given how accurate it was.

"Well, as much as I like learning about stuff, we got a free day here, and I'm not about to waste it on learning," Yang stated bringing the rooms attention to her. Ruby pouted slightly not having learned about the A and S classes but guessed she would later.

"She's right! We should be doing something fun! Not sit here doing boring stuff like learning!" Nora followed the blonde brawler's mood. Ren rolled his eyes and pointed out they would be doing that anyway if classes weren't canceled, it was mostly ignored.

"OK then. So, what does everyone want to do today?" Jaune asked as everyone thought of something to do.

"Why don't we explore the school? We only got here yesterday so it would be a good idea to learn where everything is." Pyrrha stated, getting nods from most in the room, the only two who didn't were the monochrome pair of RWBY.

"I'd rather read in our room," Blake said aloud, Wiess stated her own reason as well. "I would much rather spend my time getting ahead in my studies." she gave a look to Ruby that said she should too but was ignored entirely over the young Rose's excitement at seeing the school.

"Nope! As leader of team RWBY, I order you to join us in exploring Beacon!" Ruby called out getting a scowl from Weiss and Eye roll from Blake who had a small smile.

"Well if its an order." Blake said with a sigh. Weiss turned to give her a look but seeing she was outnumbered gave a huff before agreeing to come along. The two teams split up to get their shoes before leaving to see what one of the best hunter schools has to offer.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent exploring Beacon Academy, the main buildings of the campus were built in a circle with the old CCT tower in the middle. To the North were the Dormitories for the first to third years as the forth years get a small house located near the landing pad. This is due to the lower number of fourth years as not many can handle the Hunter life. If they live long enough, they are given housing since and because most are always out on missions and are rarely at Beacon so having another dormitory was seen as a waste of money, so they restored what was servant housing into the fourth year living quarters.

The East and closest to the Emerald Forest were the Combat arenas. There were thirteen in total with a much larger stadium in the center which was used for classes by Professor Goodwitch or for any fighting event. All the arenas were built the same with half being smaller and better for One on One's and the other half slightly bigger for team battles. The Combat Class arena was the largest and most advanced, it could change its terrain, but that was something restricted for the older years, much to the two team's sadness. Located between the Dorms and Arenas were the fitness center where students could train their bodies. There were track and field areas, swimming pools, weight rooms and just about everything people needed to improve or maintain their fitness. Each team had to drag their heavy hitters away to continue their exploring since Yang challenged Nora to see who could lift more.

To the South were the Dinning halls and School buildings. The corridors were filled with lecture halls and labs for Dust studies, each currently empty since all the teachers were away. Each classroom were auditoriums in design, the teacher desk was located at the bottom with rows for students in a semi-circle in front of it, there were four rows with spaces for the stairs to the higher levels, so all twelve teams could sit. The Dining Hall was massive, with high ceiling and four rows of four long tables that could fit four teams on one, more than enough for the whole student body. To the South-East were the Armory, Forge and Gun ranges. The Armory was the same as then they had to collect their gear, with rows of lockers for a student to place their weapons and equipment. The Forge was also large with roaring fires and all sorts of material being used to improve people's weapons and armor and make them better hunters. The armory also had a gun range and dummies section to test weapons to make sure they work and don't explode. Both WBY and JNPR had to work together to drag Ruby away from the Forge as the girl was adamant about spending her life living in the area and never leaving.

And finally, to the West were the landing pad and the Amphitheatre. The landing pads were large and had places for multiple ships to land with three large pads that could fit one of Atlas' Dreadnaught's alone. The Amphitheatre looked much larger without over a hundred people standing around, the room was large and round with a stage to the east most wall where Ozpin gave his speech. Around the room were seats for people to watch as the room was used for more public events or when there were more students around like there would be later in the year due to the Vytal Festival. To the South-West was the library, with columns of books of all sorts that it could have passed for a public one and not one for a school, it also had three floors to fit all the books located inside. Running down the center of the building were tables for people to sit at with terminals for people to work and research. Once again, the two teams had to work together to pull away a member. To the group's shock, it was Blake who pulled away Ruby in wanting to live at the library. There were even finger marks on the floor from having to drag her away. And to the North-West was the ballroom they had spent their first night at Beacon.

All around the school are walkways and arches from when the school was a castle nearly a century ago, and it meant the school wasn't short of greenery, different small gardens added to the grey and brown colors of the academy and added much-needed areas to relax and enjoy the fresh air of beacon.

The two teams spent the day moving around the whole school and getting themselves familiar with its layout. Spending the time getting to know each other and learning a little bit about one another with varying degrees of success. There was still a tension on the air since they had only known each other for a short time, but it was a start for the eight teenagers. They ended their day with eating at the Dining hall, the food was a mix of quality, with some stuff being edible and other being weapons at the ready. Maybe the staff thought they should always have something at hand given how hard the bread was. They ended the day early since classes properly start the following morning, so they bid each other goodnight.

* * *

The following morning wasn't as hectic as the day prior, the two teams awoke early and headed to the cafeteria for Breakfast. A few of the girls asked Ren and Jaune if they would cook again, but both stated it would take too long, so the two agreed to prepare on the weekends instead. It was now the first class of the year, and our two teams were sat in the front rows. As they sat waiting for class, Yang sat with her head in her hands bored and waiting for it to start, Blake sat with a book in hand, Wiess was getting her books and pens ready for the upcoming lecture, and Ruby was taking a pre-lesson nap. On JNPR's end, Nora followed Ruby in sleeping, while Ren sat quietly and looked to be meditating, but the slight sound of snoring said otherwise. Pyrrha sat straight and waited while Jaune sat next to her, arms crossed as he waited for the class to start.

The room was a typical lecture hall however had sighs of it being personalized to their current teacher, a large, elderly man, Professor Peter Port, Grimm Studies Teacher. The broads were cover in diagrams of different Grimm, a gold bust of himself sat next to his desk, next and hanging on the wall was his weapon, a blunderbuss, and ax co.

"Monsters! Demons... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as, prey! Ha-ha!" Professor Port bellowed to the class, one hand behind his back as the other gestured to the room, his booming voice awake Ruby who looked around groggily before her eyes fell on the professor, the others also started paying attention as well with Wiess writing every word the older man said. Getting no reaction from his class he continued.

"And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy!" he stated, he began pacing the front of the room as he continued. "Now, as I was saying; Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses..." mentioning the fairer sex he tossed a wink in the direction of the all-female team, Yang just so happened to be the one his eyes landed on causing her to cringe in discomfort, "Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"

"OOHHH-yeeaah!" a random student a few rows back called out, throwing a fist in the air in support, the class looked at the boy strangely until he sat down in embarrassment. 'Why isn't he wearing his uniform?' a few people thought, but before they could question it, Port stated up again.

"That is what you are training to become. But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man... Me! When I was a boy..." he began as he started going off on about his younger days like a grandparent. Most of the class tuned him out and went back to what they were doing beforehand.

Nora instantly fell asleep again, snoring away without a care in the world, not like Port took notice, to into his own story. Ren went back to 'meditating' a statute in motion. Pyrrha continued to try and listen and write notes but given her forced a smile she was having a hard time getting interested in Port's story. Jaune himself took to copying the diagrams on the boards, given they at least had information on the Grimm. On team RWBY's row, Yang had taken her scroll out to play games and message people, Blake went back to whichever book she was currently invested in, and Ruby decided to doodle on her own paper to pass the time. Weiss was the only one diligently taking notes, but given her scowl, she wasn't having a great time.

"...Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter,' he told me..." but alas Peter Port continued his story as the class slow sank into madness. Ruby chuckles at her creation she had drawn and shows it to her teammates with Jaune seeing it as he was looking around the room having already copied the diagrams. The picture contained a round body with stick arms drawing of the teacher with stink lines coming from him and "Professor Poop" written underneath. Ruby blows a quick raspberry at the silly picture with Blake and Yang laugh along, Jaune himself had to cover his mouth at the absurd drawing getting Pyrrha attention, and even she giggled slightly as well, Weiss, however, looked annoyed as her scowl deepened at her leader's childishness, the bow Ruby gave only added to her anger.

"Ah-heh-hem!" Port's 'a cough' seemed to pull the classes attention back to himself, even Nora shot straight up in alarm with Ren opening his eyes as if nothing happened. "In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity, and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!" Finishing his story, he took a bow, even if no one clapped since no one was listening.

"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable!" seeing him start talking again Ruby decided to make her own entertainment with trying to balance an apple on a book with her pencil held only by her finger, her face scrunched up in concentration. Jaune watched on in amusement at his fellow leader's antics but rose an eyebrow at seeing the twitch on Weiss's red face as she also watched Ruby. 'She looks mad.'

"A true Huntsman must be dependable!" Port continued with Ruby deciding to catch a few more Zs with a power nap. Jaune continue to watch as Weiss grew redder and twitchy in anger at Ruby's actions, 'she is Definity going to blow' he told himself.

"A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!" and just as quickly Ruby was awake and picking her nose. Jaune did find it quite funny seeing her transition from thing to thing in the blink of an eye, but Weiss looked to be hitting critical.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Weiss hearing this threw her hand up, her scowl deep on her pale face, "I do Sir!" she called out bringing the class's attention to the Schnee Heiress.

"Well, then, let's find out!" he turns to gesture at the glowing red eyes surrounded by shadow shaking the cage that traps it. "When the hell did that get there?" Jaune asked aloud, having not noticed the growling cage that sat to the side of the room, getting shrugs from his team it seemed no one had seen its appearance.

"Step forward and face your opponent!" Port challenged. Weiss huffed as she stood up and stormed out of the room to change into her gear, her team seemed to notice her anger and looked between themselves to see if any of them knew where the girl's attitude had come from but non-seemed to know.

* * *

It took a few minutes for Weiss to return, her white Hunter outfit on and her weapon, Myrtenaster, at her side. The cage ratted as whatever was inside moved around and growled in anger, wanting to be released from its cage.

"Goooo Weiss!" Yang Cheered, pumping her fist into the air as she cheered her teammate on.

"Fight Well!" Her partner followed, waving a small flag with RWBY written across it.

"Where did she get the flag?" Jaune questioned his team, Pyrrha just shrugged along with Ren who shook his head, Nora, however, was a different story.

"WOOOO! GO WEISS!" she called out a giant foam finger with Wiess #1 on it, she was also wearing a cap with RWBY #2 as well.

"And how did you get- oh forget it." Jaune started up but gave up trying to figure out what was happening.

"Why does it say RWBY #2?" Pyrrha questioned the girl who just rolled her eyes as if she had asked something stupid.

"Because silly, JNPR is #1, but it doesn't mean I can still show them support." She answered in a matter of fact voice, her team just shook their head, not wanting to try and understand the pink bomber's mind.

"How did you deal with her for so long?" Jaune tiredly asked his male friend. Ren just turned to look at his without any emotion on his face, "I don't" he answered in the most deadpan voice Jaune had ever heard. He decided to just pat the other boys back in support before turning back to the fight.

"Yeah, represent Team RWBY!" Ruby called in support of her partner, Weiss, however, didn't think this as she dropped her weapon to glare at her 'Team leader'.

"Ruby! I'm trying to focus!" She scolded Ruby who deflated at her partner's anger.

"Oh, um... Sorry..." she sheepishly replied lowing her head. The two's interaction didn't go unnoticed as Jaune watch Weiss scold Ruby for something everyone had done.

"Weiss is a bit hard on Ruby." He said aloud getting Pyrrha's attention. She had noticed the interaction and nodded along to her leader's statement.

"Indeed. Something seems to have her upset." She guessed. Jaune himself didn't answer as Professor Port stepped next to the cage, his weapon atop his shoulder as he looked at Weiss who raised her sword back into position.

"Alllright! Let the match. Begin!" he called as he brought the ax of his weapon down on the lock of the cage and freed what's inside.

When the cage door fell, inside stood a Boarbatusk, given its size it must have been a D-class like a normal Beowolf or Ursa Minor. Its red eyes locked on Weiss and charged out of the cage and at the huntress-in-training.

Weiss calmly side-stepped and swung at the Boarbatusk's side as it went past however the plates along its body caused her weapon to bounce off as she rolled away, retaking her stance as she faced the Grimm that ended its charge and turned to meet her.

"Ha-ha! Wasn't expecting that, were you?" Port called still standing by the cage, Weiss shot a look at the teacher and gritted her teeth before locking her eyes back on the Boar. Ruby's calling out of "Hang in there, Weiss!" the support only seemed to add to the girl's annoyance.

The two charged each other, and as they met, Weiss tried to jump above the Grimm and strike its face and avoid its tusks, but the armor deflected the blow causing Myrtenaster the slip and be trapped in the beast's tusks. The two started a tug of war with Weiss trying to free her weapon and the Boarbatusk to disarm its target.

"Bold, new approach. I like it!" Port helpfully added, enjoying the fight but did nothing to intervene.

"Come on, Weiss, show it who's boss!" Ruby also added but it was her voice that pulled Weiss's attention as she turned to give her an angry look but in doing so loosened her grip allowing the Boarbatusk to knock the weapon from her grasp and fling it behind and across the room, leaving Weiss unarmed.

"Oh-ho! Now, what will you do without your weapon?" Port questioned, almost taunting the girl as she struggled against the Grimm. Jaune noticed Weiss was getting angrier and angrier with the commenting Port and Ruby were doing but all her anger was aimed at the young Rose, he just knew one more would set her off.

Weiss watched as her weapon bounced across the ground before looking back just in time to see the Boarbatusk charge again. Rolling out of the way just in time to avoid getting trampled and making it crash into a desk, Weiss rushes at her sword and slide, gripping it back in her hand and facing the Boar once more.

Ruby seeing her partner in trouble called out some advice that could help her win, "Weiss! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath-" she was cut off however as Weiss finally hit the boiling point Jaune had seen coming.

"Stop telling me what to do!" she yelled back, staring at Ruby with an angry scowl, Ruby jumped at the anger in Weiss's voice and looked back hurt at her harsh tone. Her teammates and those at JNPR also reacted to the Heiress's heated words.

Yang herself looked worried at the hurt look on her sister's face and gave Weiss a mean glare of her own. Blake narrowed her eyes at the Schnee in anger. Nora looked confused as her head turned between the two girls. Ren looked indifferent but inside was concerned for the two's relationship. Pyrrha like Yang looked worried for the young Rose but also looked disapprovingly at Weiss.

Jaune, while sad at seeing Ruby hurt, had his eyes locked on Weiss's face and the angry look in her eyes. This was due to finally knowing what had the Heiress in such a foul mood. How could he not since he had seen the same look only a few months ago on another female's face aimed at himself. But while Weiss's eyes were a cold ice blue, the ones he remembered were a raging emerald green.

"Pride," Jaune whispered out subconsciously with only Pyrrha hearing him say anything but not what it was given how quiet he said it.

"What was that Jaune?" she asked, but he just waved her off as they continued to watch.

The Boarbatusk, having waited long enough, leaped into the air and rolled into a ball and spun rapidly in the air before landing on the ground, consistently gaining speed until it launches itself at Weiss. It came closer and closer, but Weiss decided to use her semblance and cast a blue-white glyph to blocks the roll and knocked it away. Seeing it land on its back she quickie leaped up into another glyph with a black snowflake symbol that seemed to catch her before it turned blue and launched her into a dive that stabbed her blade into the Boarbatusk's stomach. It squeals and falls silent causing Weiss to gasp in relief.

"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-the-making!" Port's jolly voice booms across the room as they applaud Weiss who stood back up. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings and stay vigilant! Class dismissed!" he finished as the class started to move out of the room.

Weiss shot Ruby a glare before storming out of the room with Ruby running after the girl. The others slowly made their own way down to the exits, they could help but comment on Weiss' attitude.

"Wonder what's got Weiss's panties in a twist," Yang said, her hand resting behind her head.

"Just a Schnee being themselves," Blake remarked with arms crossed and glaring at the way Weiss went.

"Maybe it's her time of the month?" Nora questioned aloud with no shame even with Ren and Jaune there, the two boys just facepalming at the ginger's bluntness.

"Nora. Please don't talk about such things in public." Ren begged his oldest friend who responded with a joy-filled "OK Ren!" like she had done nothing wrong. Jaune had lived with eight women with seven being of age, so he knew what they had to go through. He shivered in fear at thinking of when his youngest sister reached that age and added to his pain.

"Ignoring Nora's… opinion, it does appear Weiss is having some sort of problem with Ruby, she seemed fine yesterday when we were relaxing, what do you think happened, Jaune?" Pyrrha added her two sense about Weiss before turning to her leader who had a blank look on his face but a solemn look in his eyes that slightly worried the champion.

"I have an idea." He exclaimed getting everyone's attention, he, however, didn't elaborate as he walked out himself, "I'll see you all later." He waved back leaving the six remaining trainees to wonder what he was thinking.

* * *

Jaune had been walking for a few minutes through the corridors thinking about the look Weiss Gave Ruby. The look hit a little to close to home for the blonde leader as it was a look plastered fresh in his mind. "I wonder how she's doing?" he asked aloud to no one and getting no answer.

"Ozpin made a mistake." A voice said around the corner, recognizing it was Weiss, he moved around it to spot the white-haired girl storming away from a dejected Ruby who had her head down.

"Ruby? You alright?" he asked his fellow leader in worry, seeing her sad reminded him of his younger sisters, Ruby being the same age as them caused him to instinctually want to comfort the girl.

"Jaune!" she exclaimed in shock and turning to face her first friend, but her shock quickly fell into a sad frown, "Is she right? Did Ozpin make a mistake?" she asked her fellow leader with tears threatening to fall, she hoped with him being the leader of his own team he would know if she was good for the job or not.

"How would I know?" he asked confused and getting a confused look back.

"What do you mean? You're the leader of JNPR, you would know if I'm any good." She said confused getting a snort of laughter from Jaune, this irritated her as she sent him a glare and pout that she thought were threatening, but he just found it cute. "Hey! I'm serious here!"

"Sorry, its just you think I had any clue as to what I'm doing is just funny." He explained with a slight chuckle confusing her more.

"What?" Ruby said confused.

"Ruby, it's only been two days of us being a leader, and we've only had a day of rest and a day of classes to go off, it's hardly enough to determent if were good leaders or not. even then I'm just as lost as you on how to be a "good leader," but we're just gonna have to deal with it." He explained putting his hands on the shorter girl's shoulder to look in her eyes, a smile on his face. "I don't know if you're a good leader Ruby or if I am either, but we're going to have to be now that we have to, not for us but for our teams. We have to be good leaders because we can't afford to be anything else, it's our responsibility now." He finished.

Ruby had her hair covering her eyes as she thought about what Jaune said, he was right that now she had a team that needed her to be a good leader, no, a great leader and she would have to work extra hard to make sure that team RWBY is nothing but the best. She finally looked at Jaune, a bright smile on her face, one that he returned. "Your right, I can't afford to be standing around brooding about stuff! I have to be aiming for the top!" she exclaimed getting a nod from Jaune, "I'm going to be the best leader ever, but only if you are as well!" she said getting a shocked look for the blonde, but it became a smile as he gave his own nod of agreement.

"Alright Rubes, we'll become the best team leader's ever." He exclaimed getting Ruby to smile brighter. "But its team JNPR that will sit at the top." He added a challenging smirk on his face as he looked down at Ruby from his Hight advantage.

Ruby gasped is shock before pointing in Jaune face, "Never! Team RWBY will be the best!" she yelled back in change.

"Yeah?"

Yeah!"

YEAH?!"

"YEAH!"

They yelled at each other, getting in each other's face and glaring at one another. It wasn't long before the two both broke into a laughing fit realizing how silly they were acting. The two students finally pulled themselves together and gave each other a smile before Ruby suddenly hugged Jaune, her face resting on his chest.

"Thanks, Jaune." She wisped getting him to smile and hug her back.

"No problem."

They stood there for a few minutes before pulling away, smiles on there faces before Ruby started jogging away with a wave.

"See ya Jaune, gotta get started on catching up." She called out as he waved back. When she turned the corner, his hand dropped as his smile became smaller and a distant look took over his eyes. "Our responsibility now…" he whispered to himself before setting off to think to himself more, not noticing the Beacon Headmaster watching the two's interaction.

"Interesting…" Ozpin said to no one in particular.

* * *

The day had passed, and the sun was setting as Jaune continued to wander around the school grounds, he could not seem to get the image of Weiss' glaring at Ruby out of his mind. The look she gave Ruby was one he had hoped to not see on another and was trying to think of a way to help the two get along, maybe if they could resolve their differences, perhaps he can too.

He, however, didn't have much time to think on it more as he turned the corner onto a balcony and almost ran into Professor Port.

"Oh, good evening Professor." He greeted.

"Ah and a good afternoon to you too dear lad!" he replied jolly, "I never got the chance, but you put on a jolly good show during the inhiation! Well done lad!" he said, shocking the young leader.

"How do you know about that?" the blonde asked

"HAHAHA did you forget dear boy? Ozpin did state we would be monitoring and grading your performances during initiation, remember?" he told Jaune who just chuckled nervously.

"Oh, Yeah, of course." He lied to the man, 'I was totally spaced out when that happened.' Port just raised an eyebrow before; laughing and slapping him on the back, causing him to stumble forward.

"HAHAHA indeed. While your weapon skills could use some work you did a fantastic job as acting as a leader for your team but I would expect nothing else from an Arc." He exclaimed getting a smile from the young Arc. While Jaune couldn't do much about the weapon skills part, it was nice to be included in his family name, given how he felt he was undeserving of it. "Especially given who your sister is, how is the little spitfire by the way?" he asked, not noticing the slight drop in Jaune's mood.

"She's… well, I haven't heard from her for a while." He explained with a slight sadness in his voice, something Port did notice.

"A shame. I hope you get to talk to her soon, I'm sure she'd love to hear how you're doing now that you're at Beacon." Port said getting a slow nod from the boy, looking at his watch Port saw he had spent a lot of time talking with his student and had to move on. "Why look at the time, it seems I must bid you a good day Mr. Arc, have a pleasant evening." He finished as he turned to move back into the school.

"Goodnight Professor." Jaune wave as the older huntsmen went on his way. Not seeing him anymore he turned to move onto the balcony and was surprised to see Weiss sitting on one of the benches, she looked to be deep in thought. He walked over to the girl, but she didn't react to his presence.

Weiss was in deep thought on the conversation she had just had with professor Port and trying to wrap her head around what the teacher was trying to tell her. While she could see that being from such a high-class family had made her a lot more receptive to getting her way, her time growing up had not been as full of joy the man had been implying. She had her fair share of traumatic moments and had fought to get to where she was, the scar on her face was a permanent reminder of what she had to suffer through to even get to Beacon.

*Cough*

A cough from her side broke her from continuing her train of thought, she turned to see who it was and was surprised to see Jaune Arc standing next to her with a small smile on his face, she blushed in embarrassment at having not noticed the boy earlier and quickly straightened herself out.

"Can I sit here?" he asked, pointing to the bench she was sitting on.

"Of course." She said scooting to give him more space.

He sat down with thanks as the two fell into a confinable silence. While Jaune was trying to think of a way to help Weiss improve her relationship with Ruby. Wiess was again thinking of how unfair it was to not be made a leader, having slight reverted back to that thought when she remembered that Jaune like her was from a famous family and was made a leader of a team where she wasn't. Port had caused some heat to leave her but was still a bit annoyed it was Ruby out of everyone that was made the leader. She would have taken either of her other teammates, Blake more than Yang for obvious reasons, but even then Wiess didn't see why he was chosen when she wasn't.

"What happened between you and Ruby?" Jaune suddenly asked getting the heiress' attention, she was getting quite annoyed with the subject now but was too tired to get annoyed with the boy and instead decided to tell him about her problem.

"I just have a problem with Ruby being the leader of our team. She's just so childish I can't take her seriously as a leader and felt it would be best to have someone else lead." She exclaimed, she just couldn't get behind the young girl's carefree nature and thought it would lead the team to disaster.

"I mean, look at you? You're from a renowned family and were made the leader of your own team, while my team had a 15-year-old girl who rushes blindly into danger, I don't see how that's fair." She finished, with the look from earlier back in her eyes, the look of being denied something she wanted, eyes of wounded pride.

"Believe me, Weiss, I'm in the same boat as Ruby when it comes to leading a team." He told her going a confused look. "I never expected to be made the leader. It's a lot of pressure to have on my shoulders, I can tell you that, but it's got to be even worse for Ruby."

"What do you mean? While I understand it can be a lot of pressure, you're an Arc, your born leaders, nearly every member of your family are renowned for their combat and leadership skill. I even look up to your older sisters! The eldest is known as one of the strongest Huntresses in the world, having in her final year here at Beacon, won the Vytal festival single handily without her team, even beating my own sister in the finals." She explained, she didn't notice the grimace come over Jaune's face at hearing about his oldest sister as she continued to gush about his sisters. "and let's not forget her twin sister who is not only strong but a well-known singer and dancer, she was even one of the things that inspire me to sing." She gushed with stars in her eyes, Jaune could only laugh awkwardly at seeing Weiss act like a fangirl about his sisters it was quite unexpected to see. Weiss having heard him laugh realized what she had done and blushed in embarrassment.

"Tell anyone about this, and it will be up to your sisters to continue the family line." She hissed out in anger and embarrassment as she pointed at the blond boy threateningly.

Jaune just put his hands up in surrender as he waited for her to cool down before finally answering her question with a melancholy look on his face. "Yeah, my sisters are amazing, all my family lives up to the expectation of the Arc name. I however could not." He said getting a confused look form the girl.

"what do you mean?" she asked getting an empty chuckle from the boy that worrying her.

"I'm what some would call the black sheep of the family, For the Arc family unlocking one's aura had to be done themselves to strengthen it. But I never could, without an aura, I could never train with them in fear I would be hurt. I tried to train alongside them, but when they saw I couldn't keep up they saw no point in training me until much later." he started, not mentioning the weapons of his family as that was a bit too personal.

Weiss, however, could kind of see why that happened. Her younger brother had not inherited the family semblance and had not been able to learn their fighting style. He wasn't interested in being a fighter in any way but, she could see he was intensely jealous of her and their sister Winter who had inherited it. "but you have your Aura now so you must have unlocked it." She said getting a nod from him.

"your right, I unlocked it. When I was fifteen." He stated shocking her more.

"Fifteen?! That means you've only had two years at most to train." She said in shock. "well that does explain why your weapon skills are so low, but for only two years you are much better than most to learn so fast." She added not seeing the twitch in his eye. Jaune had spent years learning the Sword and Shield style, but without Excalibur, it would never work for him, he said nothing and just nodded along.

"Right, I had so much to learn in a short time, but I wanted to make my family proud. So, I spent every waking moment trying to catch up, and luckily I did." He finished with a slight smile.

"That must have felt good to finally live up to their expectations," Weiss said, but she didn't get the response she expected.

"The opposite in fact. I had never had to set the same expectation before, I envied my sisters for being able to live up to the family name yet when I finally got to their level, it felt like a crushing weight being put on my shoulder, even more so given how quickly I improved. People started expecting a lot from me when that happened." He started getting a sympathetic look from Weiss.

Growing up people expected so much from her, especially when she was made heiress of the family after Winter joined the military. Suddenly a much larger weight was placed upon her with the fact she was a Schnee, so she was already expected to live up to the family name. But Jaune had nothing before having it all dumped on his shoulders, so it must have been quite a shock to him.

"The reason I'm telling you this Weiss its that the same thing is happening to Ruby right now. She's been pushed forward two years into the best hunter school on the planet and on top of that had been made the leader of a team. That a lot of weight to be but on a fifteen-year old's shoulders. She's still young, but she will most like mature quickly now people have to rely on her now." He finished.

Wiess could only sigh, Jaune was right, Ruby now had so much pressure on her shoulders, and her acting like a spoilt brat would just add on to the girl's worries. "While I hate to agree with you, your right. I haven't been the best teammate or partner." She said, standing up and facing the boy. "Thank you Jaune, I think I have to go apologize for my behavior. It wouldn't do well for a Schnee to be seen in such a bad light." She said with a slight curtsy." Have a good evening Jaune."

Jaune just gave her a smile and a small nod himself. "I'm glad I could help Weiss. Have a good night and let your team know I said the same."

"Yours's too" she replied before leaving Jaune to himself, "Oh and remember Arc, you promised to tell Ruby and me about your semblance one of these days." She said with a smirk before leaving. He could only chuckle, he was happy to have fixed the two's relationship before it could become something terrible. He frowned a bit at their talk about having expectation put on oneself, his mind flashing back to the day he unlocked his semblance. How happy his family was but how it led to a rift forming between the person he looked up to most and himself, a pair of glaring green eyes coming to mind.

"Jaune?" a voice asked breaking him of his thoughts. Tuning his eyes fell to another set of emerald eyes but while the set in his head was glaring the one's he was locked onto shined with worry, they were so familiar yet so different he didn't realize he was staring into then for a long time. "Jaune? Is something on my face?" he was once again snapped out of his stare and finally took in who it was and was surprised to see the bushing face of his partner Pyrrha, realizing he had just been staring at her he blushed himself before quickie trying to move on.

"No, no. I was just thinking about something." He waved her off, "anyway why are you here?" he asked getting Pyrrha to jump out of her own embarrassment before giving him a warm smile.

"Oh, I came to find you, the team were about to go get dinner and wanted you to be there." She stated her reason getting a warm smile and nod from her leader.

"Alright then, let's get there before Nora eats everything, we may have only known her a day, but given yesterdays breakfast were gonna have to get going." He stated as the two laughed at the most hyper member of their team.

"Indeed, lead the way oh fearless leader." She said with a smirk, adopting the nickname Nora had given Jaune who just rolled his eyes as he moved past her. As she watched him walk away, she couldn't help but think of the conversation she had heard him have with Weiss. She had arrived not long into the two's conversation but had been too curious to join in and had let them talk.

Pyrrha was shocked to hear about Jaune's past with his family. She like Weiss was a big fan of his older sisters and was there at the Festival to see his sister dominate the tournament. It was what inspired her to become a great fighter and enter the Mistral championship when she was old enough. When Pyrrha learned he was related to her, she was excited to know him more. But having heard his past wasn't as grand as she expected, she was slightly sad for her partner and wanted to learn more about him.

"You coming?" she finally noticed she had been standing there and fallen behind Jaune who was waiting up for her.

Jogging over she said she was fine as they moved to the Dining hall. 'You're a lot more interesting then I thought Jaune. I want to get to know you more.' She told herself, as she watched him walk in front of her, a smile on his face. She looked forward to spending the next 4 years getting to know the boy that was her team leader, Partner and first friend.

* * *

 **And that's chapter 4, I hope people liked what happened. I wanted to give a bit more to the Grimm classes and add to Ruby's inexperience being 2 years younger than the others.**

 **I hope people like the layout I gave Beacon, it's not much but I hope it gives people a better idea of what the campus looks like.  
**

 **The Outfits I gave the characters also were something I wanted to give them since they only ever wear their gear which seems strange for when they relax so I wanted to provide them with something else to wear.  
**

 **For the relationship in the story, I already have an idea on where its gonna go and am planning for it to be an Arkos story.**

 **I know, I know, it's unoriginal, but after talking about it more, it was the best fit for where I plan to take the story so I will be taking the story in that direction. While Ruby did win the poll, I looked at building the two's relationship in this story and found it better with her being like another one of his sisters so that's where that will be going and I'm sorry for those who I will disappoint with this decision, but that's what I want.  
**

 **For those wondering how the poll went we have Ruby at 40 votes, Pyrrha at 31, Yang at 23, Other at 20, Blake at 16 and Wiess at 7. Thank you all for voting.**

 **I'm going to start answering people's comments from the last chapter from now on at the end of each section so if you want, ask away :P.**

 **1799:** I have plans ;]

 **InfinityMask:** while I love Monster Hunter and have World as one of my favored games of all time, it wasn't the inspiration for the Class system, it was just an idea I came up with to act as a power scale for the story, but I can see why you would think that.

 **Ultimate Kuuga:** I am sorry my friend if I must pay blood for my sin so be it.

 **Epyon Legium:** Sorry if it's a bit slow, I have written anything serious since high school in a story format, only scrips for films (I just graduated with a film production degree) but I hope to get better at ramping up the story. Also, about Jaune's semblance being Mana Burst, there's a reason he got hurt doing what he did, but you'll have to wait till next chapter to learn why that is ;]

 **PersonaInsane:** Haven't really thought of everyone else's pairing at the moment but its something I'm gonna have to look at fixing later. And yes, Velvet is the best girl and she is too pure for this world.

 **janed12000:** I'd say about 50/50 in the divergence a least up to Vol 4, I'm having some original stories between each season as well as having some othering things happen in the seasons as well, it's just too early in the story for me to add things that change it too much.

 **I thank you all for your comment, and I hope you look forward to the next chapter for it is the chapter everyone's been waiting for!**

 **Till then, Malluk.**

 **Next chapter:** **Advise and Warnings**


	5. Chapter 5 - Advise and Warnings

**Heyo, Malluk here with chapter 5 of Knight of Hunters! I hope your all have a nice holiday and are looking forward to the new year!**

 **To start off I would like to inform you all that I have split the original planned chapter into 2 because of how high the word count has become, I've only just started writing the Forever Fall scene and am already at 20k word. I plan to have it done by the end of the week but if I left it all in one chapter it would be near 25+k so I have split it up into two chapter, this one and another to come out in a few days.**

 **With that said please enjoy this chapter.**

 **RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay night is property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting, only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Pease support the original products.**

 **Edited by: M.H. Pintner**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **Advise and Warnings**

A month had passed since the first day of classes and classes had be progressing normally for our new hunter teams. After Jaune's talk the relationship between Ruby and Weiss seems to have improved greatly. Ruby had been spending time catching up on her studies and Weiss had been there to help her with the two have a study session every day to help her catch up. Weiss had proven to be a strict teacher for the young leader and would hunt the young Rose down when she wanted to skip on the two's study lesson. Blake and Yang had been happy to see the other half of their team start to get along and would chip in to help their new leader grow.

Weiss was the most academic of the team so wanted the all-girl team to be nothing but the best their studies this did cause some tension in the team as she still had quite the frosty nature and upper-class attitude, but it was something the young heiress had been working on since her talk with Jaune. She had apologised to for her attitude and started a normal friendship with even if he still called her Snow Angel, but she suspected he does so to annoy her.

Yang was the best in practical and would spend her time making sure her team were physical at their best, leading to her being a momma bear when it came to the team's health. She did it naturally with Ruby. Eventually it had spread to the monochrome half of the team. But even her mothering nature didn't stop the girl from cracking jokes as well as faces with her short temper, having beaten up a few of the male students for their inappropriate behaviour toward her team. The only ones she had not beaten out of combat class were the two males of JNPR due to their teams' close bond.

Blake was the most reclusive of the team but would try to interact with the other, she would join in with the team's activity but would usually spend her time reading her 'book'. It had been both horrifying and hilarious when Ruby of all people had been the one to find the Faunus's hidden collection of adult literature as the young girl had read some of the book and called her out about the content with a cry of 'FILTH!' while they were eating breakfast one morning leading to horrified faces on a few people and the laughter of others which had left the cat girl blushing in both anger and embarrassment at her interest being outed. Jaune while finding it funny at first had gone white when he learned the 'books' were quite familiar to him and had made sure to avoid the topic under the cover of giving Blake a break which she was grateful for.

Finally, there was Ruby who while dreading her time spent catching up in her studies had been greatly enjoying her time at Beacon. She had finally started getting into the role of leader for her team after talking to Jaune, working hard in becoming the best she could be for the people she now led. She didn't however lose her innocent and childish nature much to Weiss's dismay and would still spend time goofing around with her sister and the members of team JNPR who the team had been close with as the eight trainees spent most of their time interacting with each other both in and out of lesson.

On JNPR 's side they had also fallen into their team structure much like RWBY, one key difference between the two teams however was the fact team JNPR had something RWBY didn't. Nora. Soon after they started living together Jaune and Pyrrha had learned that Nora was always a walking disaster that had to be kept in check as Ren had to teach the two the do's and don'ts of the most energetic member of the team.

Ren himself was much like Blake with being the quietest member of the team but acted as a voice of reason as well, having to keep Nora in check most of the time he had gotten good at seeing then something was wrong and had helped his team grow in the last month.

Nora was a walking ball of energy with was both good and bad for the team, she was always up to something active with in the good cases would be training or in the bad when she ended up destroying a dust lab trying to make a more explosive grenade for her weapon. Her cheerful attitude however would always bring the team up in spirit and would go out of her way to make sure her new friends were having fun.

Pyrrha was very much a mother hen for the team with her kind and caring nature, she grew a close bond with her teammates with them being some of the first friends she's had in many years and wants them to be happy, this has led to the team learning she likes to apologise a lot even for the smallest of thing but the team just found it adorable much to her embarrassment.

Finally, Jaune had taken to the role of leader quite well. He appeared to be a natural leader and strategist having the highest score in the strategy and tactics lessons he takes alongside Ruby, she had pouted at him for this and demanded him to teach her to be a better leader which he happily did. The two leaders had become close friends over their time having to become leader and would work together often leading to the two teams to grow close together with a rivalry sparking between the two and its members.

The main rivalry comes from the team's standing in combat classes that take place at least once a day with Miss Goodwitch as its seen as the most important lesson. With only the first month coming to an end they had been doing one vs one's to get everyone use to the arena as Goodwitch planned to move on to pair and team battle going forward but for now all the fights had been 1 on 1. For the teams of RWBY and JNPR it was clear to all the first-year teams who were at the top of the year as all their members were in the top ten ranked students only ever losing to each other.

At the top not surprisingly was Pyrrha, having not lost any matches much to her slight disappointment, while her new friends did give her a challenge, Yang was the only one to get her below 50% Aura during the first month due to her semblance making her hit so hard, she hoped that as their time at Beacon continued someone would push her to her best but for now was still seen as invincible.

Yang herself was 2nd only having lost to Pyrrha much to her annoyance, she was happy to have someone worth fighting but seeing how she still lost by a large amount did drive her to become stronger and she declared to beat Pyrrha one of these days, a challenge Pyrrha took with a smile.

3rd was JNPR's own powerhouse Nora, her power and unpredictable nature made her someone hard to fight, while hyper she proved to be quite the fighter and the scariest to fight against especially with her yelling of 'Breaking your Legs' to her opponents leading to a few of her matches being quick surrender that made her pout in annoyance.

Next was Blake with her speed and semblance made her the best hit and run fighter in the year, along with the real live experience she had from her time in the Fang this made her the 4th best fighter in the year. She found the position satisfying since she wasn't one for standing out like those in the top 3 places but still enjoyed seeing how well she does compare to others.

In 5th was Weiss, while a bit sad she wasn't higher in the ranking, the four above her proved to be too much of a match for her as all of them can overwhelmed her with power like Yang and Nora or with speed with Blake and Pyrrha. Weiss had proven to be best as someone who could control the flow of battle and control the battlefield, however the people above her could either take control faster or barrel through anything she sets up so she sadly couldn't get to a higher rank but being in the top 5 was good enough for now.

6th was JNPR's resident ninja Ren, who with his stellar hand to hand combat power rose to where he is now. In pure hand to hand he was easily the best fighter in the year with his weapons that only really playing a supporting role for his fighting style as he aimed to disarm and disable his opponents as quickly and effectively as possible. The only reason he was not higher was because of his relatively low Aura reserves. While he had a mastery at using his aura as a weapon, the amount he had was not very large, so he can't take much punishment before he would lose. He aimed to try and fix it but for now was fine with his ranking. One reason his rank was high was due to winning against Nora, who surrender with the promise of pancakes much to Ren's amusement and Goodwitch's annoyance.

7th was the chipper leader of team RWBY, Ruby, who with her giant scythe and speed semblance could quickly overpower most opponents. The young girl had proven to be a difficult opponent for most of the first years and she would quick overwhelm her enemy's and use both ranger and the large weight of her weapon to quick break their aura and win her matches. The only people she loses to are her own team and JNPR as they already knew how she fought with their time together in the emerald forest. They had all found out that Ruby was quick to tunnel vision when fighting and had trouble collecting herself if her rhythm is broken so she could be easily overwhelmed herself.

And finally, two spaces below the rest of his friends in 10th was our hero Jaune. While highly ranked in the class, Jaune had won most of his matches due to his ridiculous amount of Aura and being able to outlast most of his opponents and how his semblance would make him stronger the longer it was active. He had been training to improve the speed in which he could amplify himself, but he still had to last a few minutes if he didn't want to hurt himself like he did in the emerald forest when he boosted himself too quickly. The biggest problem that people saw Jaune have was with his choice in weapons. Even after a month of school his skills with his sword and shield didn't appear to be improving unlike his semblance, no matter how hard he tried to use them. Most seemed to think using them to be a waste of time, as in most fights he had proven to be quite good at hand to hand, only being behind Yang and Ren in skill but he was too stubborn to drop the Sword and shield combo, no matter what people tell him.

It was in combat class where we find Jaune with Crocea Mors in hand as he faced against the 8th Ranked student Cardin Winchester, the armoured man Jaune had spotted on the first day at Beacon. Cardin had proven Jaune's ideas true when it came to light, he was a bully and would use his above average strength to torment those weaker then him alongside his team. Their main targets being the Faunus students and this had instantly cause friction with his team, RWBY and JNPR.

Cardin was currently sneering at Jaune, his mace in hand as he planned to crush the blonde loser in front of him. When it came to light his abuse of the 'animals' Jaune was the first to stand against his authority leading to the two become enemies. It didn't help that his team along with RWBY were the higher ranked teams in the year, leading Cardin's own team to fall down the ranking, even with him and Dove also being in the top 10. With most of them ranked higher then him it proved that most of them could stand against him and thus he couldn't bully them. But when the time came to dish out pay back, he set his sights on the one who stood against him and was also ranked lower them him. Jaune.

"Ready to get crushed again Jauney boy." Cardin taunted with an arrogant smirk, this wasn't the first time the two fought, it was their 6th time fighting. Jaune had won the first three fights much to Cardin's anger but the last few time Cardin had been able to overpower the blond knight and knocked him out of the ring, leading to Cardin seeing Jaune as weak and an easy target.

Jaune didn't answer his taunts and kept his shield up and sword at the ready which lead to Cardin growling in anger. It didn't take long for him to lose his patience and charge Jaune, as he grew closer, he pulled the arm back that held his mace and swung with a large horizontal swing towards Jaune's head, hoping to crush the blonde's face.

Jaune eastly ducked the large swing before thrusting his shield in Cardin's face with a resounding thud, dazing the larger boy. Jaune, used this to his advantage, rounded him and started striking at Cardin's leg joints in hope of bring the larger fighter down. Cardin stumbled and grunted in pain but quick recovered swinging back around to try and hit Jaune, who stepped back away from Cardin, avoiding the hit and creating space between the two, resetting their positions.

Up in the stands Jaune friends watch as Jaune and Cardin go at each other again. Each held a dislike for the orange haired boy due to his teams' attitude and discrimination towards others. When they learned of this, they discovered that Blake had a lot of things to say about team CRDL, a lot of which was bad.

"He's doing better than last time." Ren pointed out with a blank expression as he watched the fight. He sat next to Nora who cheered their leader on with Pyrrha sat on the other side of her, a worried expression on her face as she watched her partner fight.

"He is. But its only because he's being more careful, not because his' improved his skills." Weiss added herself, she was sat with her own team on the row above team JNPR next to Blake as Ruby and Yang, like Nora, cheered the blonde boy on.

Blake nodded along with Weiss' statement, it was clear to see Jaune was a lot more defensive compared to the last time the two fought. She hoped the knight-like leader would win and wipe that smug look of the racists face and that he broke his nose with that shield bash. She tried to stay as cool and collected as possible most of the time but whenever she was around Cardin or his team, she always seemed to be one snarky remark away from castrating the guy, but sadly she would get in trouble for maiming another student. So, she just had to settle for seeing him getting beat up in combat class like she hoped Jaune would do now.

"He's still having trouble with his weapons. Even when we practice, he always seems to have some problem with the weapons and we can't seem to fix it." Pyrrha added with a worried tone, since the start of the year JNPR had been training together to get to know how each other fights, but in their time train Jaune had shown no improvement with Crocea Mors, no matter how much time they spent on it. Jaune would usually just wave it off and focus more on the team dynamic, but after a month of no improvements she was starting to worry about her blonde partner. Even more so since recently any mention of the weapons seems to cause him to flinch in discomfort.

"Don't worry, Jaune can do this. There's no way he'd lose to a jerk like Cardin… again." Ruby said trying to brighten everyone's spirits, before bringing it down again with the mention of the last fight the two had.

Back down in the arena the two were circling each other and waiting to strike. "What's the matter Jauney-boy? You act so tough around the animals but when it comes time to fight you hide behind that shield of your like a coward." Cardin sneered as he stared Jaune down who again kept his mind on the match.

Jaune had been having a rough time in combat class, he had quickly learned that his skills with Crocea Mors placed him as around the Mid to Low tier of students in his year, but with the help of his massive aura and semblance he had placed himself in the top ten students along with his team, if only just barely. He knew in his last match that he would fall down a few places if he lost the next, and it had led him to stress out about who he would be facing. Jaune prayed it wouldn't be any of his friend as he would lose to any one of them, only ever coming close to beating Ren and Ruby due to low aura and being younger respectively. Luckily or unluckily he was matched up, again, with who could be called his arch-enemy at Beacon, Cardin Winchester. while he had won three matches over the brute, he had lost the last two in a row and if the streak continued, he would lose his spot and he couldn't let that happen. He refused to be seen as weak ever again.

Jaune's aura started to appear over his body indicating that his Semblance had started adding to his power. Over the month his control over it had allowed him to increase his power by around 20% in a short time, but he would have to spend more time to boost it any higher. It's what allowed him to match the other students apart from his team and team RWBY who appeared to be a cut above the rest of their year.

Seeing the glow Cardin frowned knowing it just got a lot harder to knock the blonde bastard down but quickly and idea formed in his head as he once again charged, doing the same as before. Most of the class shook their head at this but as Jaune went to duck again like before, if not a bit faster, Cardin instead aimed at the ground next to him near Jaune's foot. Most thought he missed but a second later, the Red dust crystal at the top of the mace ignited creating a large explosion that blew Jaune away to the side. The explosion had hit his sword hand and caused his slight loose grip to fail causing the blade to go flying out of bounds leaving Jaune with just his shield to fight with.

Jaune looked to where his sword flew before facing Cardin who had a vicious smile on his face at having caused the loss of Jaune's weapon. Jaune himself was mad at one again having problems with his weapon, even now he still couldn't seem to handle any other blade apart from Excalibur and it really started to get to him. 'Maybe I should just use Excalibur from now on. I clearly can't get any better than this.' He told himself before a voice of a past event played in his head from a few weeks ago.

" _Your nothing without that sword! Just a weak! Pathetic! Nobody!"_ the voice cried out in anger getting him to grit is teeth. 'NO! I am not weak! And ill prove it!' his eyes hardened as he heard Cardin laugh at his predicament.

"Well now what will you do without your sword? Not like it did much for you before, just acted as a paper weight till that Semblance of yours kicked in." He taunted, getting a scowl from Jaune and his friends who had quieted down when he lost his sword. Cardin now had the advantage and rushed Jaune who was now even more on the defensive, even if his Semblance was activated.

"Damn it, Sir Knight's gonna have it rough without his sword, he needed it to do damage given how armoured Cardin is." Yang grimly said as they watch Jaune dodge and deflect Cardin's wild swing, he was just aiming to crush Jaune with power now that he didn't have to worry about him hitting back.

"Your right. Without his sword he can't do much damage since he can't get too close or he'll get smashed with Cardin's Mace." Blake added with grit teeth, she hoped to see a win for Jaune, but now it was looking unlikely.

"He'll win!" two voices said leading to the other looking at the red head of both team RWBY and JNPR who had determined looks on their faces as they watched Jaune moved around the arena, trying to not lose.

"Their right, we can't be giving up on our fearless leader so easily! GOOO JAUNEY"! Nora cheered getting the group to start cheering again, their newly raised voices got the two combatants' attention. Jaune just smiled at his friend's support, he was lucky to get such good friends and was grateful for the support. A scoff drew his attention as Cardin sneered at the seven cheering students.

"I see your little group of cheerleaders is as noisy as ever, you think they'd get with the times and ditch a loser like you." He said getting a scowl from Jaune as Cardin faced him again. "I mean a group of babes like that should be all over someone who actually has the balls to handle them all, like me for example, but instead they wasting their time trying to get in your pathetic pants." Cardin added getting angry and disgusted shouts from the crowd.

"There my friends Cardin. But I guess some like you wouldn't know about that now, would you?" Jaune said back getting an angry growl from Cardin and supportive cheers from his friends. Cardin was about to charge again but not before whispered angrily to Jaune something he shouldn't have.

"Know this Arc, when I'm done with you, I'm going after that red head slut and the little red riding bitch your so friendly with next." He snarled before lowering to charge at Jaune but in the instant his head lowered to charge it snapped back as Jaune's armour covered fist slammed into his nose.

The class went silent as Jaune had moved faster than anyone expected him to and drilled his fist in Cardin's face, who was sent reeling from the hit. Now that he stopped people could see the glow over his body had concentrated in his feet and hands as they started glowing brighter. What people didn't expect was Jaune to growl in anger at Cardin. They had seen him angry when he confronted him about the bullying, but it wasn't at the level of rage he showed now.

"You stay the hell away from them Cardin or I swear I'll brake more than your nose." Jaune snarled out as Cardin moved his hand away from his face to show his bent nose that was streaming blood, his aura doing its best to heal the wound.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Cardin yelled as he charged once again but was now blinded by his anger. Jaune quickly detached his shield and collapsed it into a sheath before meeting Cardin's swing with the sheath, using it as a makeshift sword to deflect the hit away. Using the opening, he once again slammed his fist into Cardin's face who recoiled away before screaming in anger and swinging wildly again. Ducking under it, Jaune uppercut his chin, snapping Cardin's head back before followed it up with thrusting the sheath into his face causing Cardin to fall on his back as he griped his face in agony.

People were shocked to see Jaune fighting so brutally against Cardin, most had seen him say something before Jaune appeared in front of him to punch him in the face but only the Faunus heard what was said and thought his response was justified. For Jaune's group of friends they didn't hear what Cardin said, all except for the hidden Faunus among the group and it was clear to see she was just as angry as Jaune. "Bastard." She growled getting her friends attention.

"What was that Blake? Did you hear what he said?" Weiss question next to her and getting everyone attention.

"He said some bad things about Ruby and Pyrrha, about how he was going to aim for them after he was through beating Jaune up." She answered getting the group to glare at the moaning bully, who was still on the ground in pain. His aura was still above the 15% threshold and the match was still not called by Miss Goodwitch who was watching with her usual scowl. Although it seemed to be deeper then it usually was. Yang's eyes turned red as she glared, Ren's was a cold glare, Nora had a large frown and narrowed eyes, Weiss grit her teeth and snarled, Ruby but on her own glare but was happy to see Jaune stand up for her along with Pyrrha who looked angrily at Cardin but still cast a worried glance to Jaune. He had been a lot more aggressive this last week and was worried he may have hit his limit.

"Bastard!" Cardin ground as he got his knees, he was seeing red as he glared at Jaune who returned the look. Snarling like an animal, Cardin rose to charge but Jaune once again moved in knocking Cardin's mace away when he brought his sheath up to deflect before punching him in the face again. Using the momentum Cardin spun around and swung backwards, hoping to hit Jaune but the blonde used his sheath to catch the shaft of the mace and pointed it away as Cardin set the explosion off again, but this time Jaune was ready and unaffected. Using his position, he snapped his elbow into Cardin's face as he grasped hold of his arm and pulling Cardin off balance. As the two spun Jaune used his sheath to disarm Cardin, the mace flying off in some random direction. When he was disarmed Jaune let him go and stopped his own spin before quickie turning the other way with his fist up and primed to meet Cardin's cheek, passing across his face, once again causing him to fall to a knee in pain as Jaune took a step back. Cardin held his cheek before growling once more, he turned to face Jaune but didn't expect to see a steel boot come screaming towards his face. Jaune had taken a few steps back so he could get enough space to deliver a devastating spartan kick into Cardin's temple. his foot glowing white from his semblance as it slammed into the side of Cardin's face, depleting his aura and knocking him out, Cardin's head slammed into the ground due to the force of the hit.

"And that's the match!" Glynda called out a loud with the bell as the light came on. The class cheered for Jaune victory with Nora and Ruby being the loudest. People were happy to see the bully get his ass kicked and were shouting their congrats as Jaune came down from his anger, the red on his face going form red from anger to red from embarrassment due to all the praise he was getting. The crack of a whip silenced the room as Glynda approached the two boys, Jaune quickly straightening out as to not upset the teacher.

"A well fought victory Mr. Arc, you may have lost your weapon, which was a grave mistake in any other situation. But you still used your impressive hand to hand skills and the shield you still had to your advantage. It was a clever idea to switch it into a sheath to increase your range and allow you to get closer, well done for that." She stated getting a large smile from the blonde. "However." that caused him to freeze and she glared at him getting him to straighten out like a statue and sweat with fear. "You let your emotions control you. I don't know what it was Mr. Winchester said to you, but you still let your anger take control and that can and will lead you to a quick death. Make sure to keep a level head from now on, after all your strategic mind is your greatest tool and you don't want to lose it due to raging emotions." She finished getting a nod from and small smile form the boy.

"Yes Miss Goodwitch." He said with a bow. Glynda sighed before waving her whip to fix the craters that Cardin had made as well as float Jaune's weapon back to his hand, who took it with a nod and sheathed it at his belt.

"One more thing Mr Arc." Glynda said getting his attention once more. "It's been weeks now and you still have yet to show improvement with your weapons." She started, she didn't miss the way he flinched at her words causing her eyes to narrow. She knew about the Arc family and knew Crocea Mors wasn't Jaune's weapon, she was surprised to see Jaune come to beacon and doubly so to see him use aura. She at first suspected he must have somehow unlocked it without a weapon but since she had talked to him about it when they first interacted after initiation, she learned of what he kept in his locker and was disappointed he still had not swapped to his main weapon. "If you can not show any improvement soon, I recommend swapping the weapon you use to something else. Maybe some gauntlets like Miss Xiao-Long to elevate your already descent hand to hand skills or perhaps, something else?" She finished getting a strain smile and nod from the boy. Seeing him so down about his sword skills reminded her of when she looked after him and his sisters over a decade ago. How sad he looked not having a weapon to bond with like most of his sisters.

Sighing once again she called Cardin's team to bring him to the infirmary to get an aura booster and to have his nose reset, given how it was clearly broken and would most likely be crocked from now on. "Remember everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!" as she finished the bell rang for the end of class as people got up to leave. Jaune himself was walking off to get changed for the rest of the school day but a hand on his shoulder stopped him, turning to Glynda he didn't see the look of his teacher but the look of his old babysitter. "I know you still have problems due to family matters but please think about using it instead. I would hate to go back and see your mother after all these years just to tell her that you had died. Please Jaune." She stated with a small caring smile, after a few moments he returned the smile with the one she had known from when he was younger and happy.

"Of course, Miss Glynn, I promise." he stated getting a nod from her before she straightened up and put her 'teaching face' back on.

"Glad to hear Mr. Arc and remember its Miss Goodwitch now." She stated seriously but the slight smirk showed she was playing with the boy, Jaune just smiled back before straightening up and giving a mocking salute like a soldier.

"Yes, Miss Goodwitch Ma'am." he stated before turning and walking out to get changed. Most didn't see the whole interaction between the two, the few that did those being his group of friends who wondered what the relationship between the two was.

* * *

It was a few minutes later that Jaune stepped out of the armoury back in his school uniform, ready for the afternoon classes where he met with his group of friends who had waited for the young Arc to finish changing. Thanking them for waiting, the group started making their way towards the dining hall to get their lunch. Not long after setting off a cheer from behind and a weight fell onto Jaune's back causing him to stumble forward. Instinctively grapping onto the legs that moved around his body, he looked over his shoulder to see the grinning face of Nora, who had jumped on his back and making him give her a piggy back.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" she cried pumping her fists into the air, she went on to ramble about the fight while swinging her arms around, trying to recreate the moves he showed in the fight, while this was happening the others watched Jaune try not to fall to the ground from the erratic movement.

"Nora! Don't just jump on Jaune like that, you could have caused an accident." Pyrrha scolded her orange haired friend but was slightly jealous of her getting a piggy back from Jaune.

Nora however ignored Pyrrha and continued raving about how amazing Jaune's fight was and how proud she was he broke Cardin's big stupid nose and how next time he should aim for his legs. Over the first month at Beacon Team JNPR had become quite close and had become convertible with each other. Having two males and females on the team lead to them having to get use to each other quicker. If they wanted to work well together on missions, they would have to get use to seeing each other naked, either to change clothes if they had no privacy or dress wounds if anyone of them were injured.

During this time Nora's position on the team had become something of a little sister since they all had to keep her in line. Her relationship with Ren hadn't changed with arriving at beacon as the two spent most of their time together, but they now had more friends to interact with and confined in. With Pyrrha the two had quick become close friends and would often have girl talk with each other, even going over to team RWBY's room to have large girl talks that Ren and Jaune were banned from. Jaune was used to this with all his sisters and Ren was finally allowed some away time from Nora, while he cares deeply for the girl having spent years joined at the hip with the girl had left little time to relax. Jaune having so many sisters, he instinctively was very protective of Nora and was happy to spend time with the girl he saw as another sister. He and Nora would spend most of their time training together since Nora was a natural power house and Jaune was the most physically fit student in his year from his years of working without auras influence in streamlining his physic.

Ren was a becoming a brother in all but blood for Jaune as he finally had someone that was of the same sex as himself to interact with apart from his father. The two boys would spend their time together relaxing weather that would be in meditation, playing games or cooking together as they would do on the weekend for their team and RWBY they would also be training in hand to hand together as their style are the opposite to each other. Jaune was a more swarmer style where he used counters and heavy blows to disrupt and overpower his foes while Ren's style was more about speed and precision strikes to disable and weaken his opponents, that with his mastery over aura manipulation allowed him to easily disturb a person's own aura and use his own as a weapon not unlike a semblance but Ren had stated that his was something different. Jaune had also asked for his help with aura manipulation given the nature of his own semblance and how important it was to be able to control it.

Finally, was Pyrrha who had become one of Jaune's best friends alongside Ruby who Jaune spent his time nerding out with over comics and movies. But with Pyrrha, the twos relationship was that of someone they could trust and depend on. The two would often spend their time just talking with each other and joke around with each other. It came as a shock to see how playful the Mistralian champion was around the blonde knight compared to her relative soft-spoken kind nature that she usually had on.

It seemed the two had some contest to see who could get the best reaction from the other and that two didn't show signs of stopping. Even with their little japs at each other it as clear to see the two had grown close over the month and had become close friends leading some to believe that the two were dating. both would deny this strongly, even with the bright blush Pyrrha would get and the smaller one Jaune would have. Even then not all are happy about that rumour, given how the two were seen as the most attractive in the first year for boys and girls with Pyrrha's prior fame feeding her popularity and the first night in the ballroom feeding Jaune's, much to his annoyance. He cursed his sister once again for pulling that stunt.

"I have to agree with Nora on this one. That fight was brutal given Cardick's new nose job." Yang crudely exclaimed, approving with Nora's assessment of the fight.

Weiss was not too happy with Yang's nickname of Cardin as she swatted the girls shoulder getting a yelp from the girl as she glared at her. "Yang! Please refrain from using such crude language. I don't like Cardin as much as the next person but does not mean you can say such disgusting things." The Heiress scolded while Yang rubbed where the girl hit her while shooting her own glare back, it didn't hurt much but it was unexpected causing her to jump.

"While I agree the language wasn't necessary, it was nice to see Cardin get put in his place." The quite member of team RWBY added, her nose deep in a book like usual but still paying attention to the conversation happening as they walked along.

"I'm with Nora on this! That was totally awesome! Can you show me how to kick like that Please!?" Ruby asked as she jumped around the group, stopping in front of him to use the puppy dog eye look, hoping it would work this time. Yang however hearing her weapon crazy sister wanting to learn close quarter combat from Jaune when she and their dad had been trying for years to get her to learn, was a bit annoyed but that quickly changed as a smirk made its way to her face when she thought of a way to tease her cute little sister.

"What? Why is it now you show interest in hand to hand? Wasn't I good enough to teach you all these years that now you go to someone else to learn?" she started with a hurt voice. Ruby froze and turned to look her sister who turned away to not meet her eyes like she was too hurt to look at her, but in reality, it was to hide the smile that was threatening to split her face.

"What?! No, no its nothing like that Yang! Its just- I mean its- um, urm, I?" Ruby was beginning to panic, she didn't expect her sister to get hurt from her interest in Jaune's fight, it wasn't like she was that interested in learning how to fight hand to hand but was a more in the moment thing she had said that was now biting her in the back. She had been trying to be more mindful of what she said given the position she was in but would sometimes let her mouth run away from her getting her in trouble.

One intense of this was in the second week when Cardin picked his first fight with Jaune and Ruby stepped in to help, while Jaune could easily kick Cardin's ass as no one knew how each other fought given combat classes didn't start till the second week, she wasn't one to stand aside when a friend was in danger. This however led to the first fight of the year being her against Cardin as Miss Goodwitch had been watching the confrontation. Ruby was so riddled with anxiety and doubt that she almost forfeit the match. I mean she was two years younger and was behind everyone else, she thought even some like Cardin would beat her easily but it was the call of her friends that gave her the confidence to fight the best she could and had easily stomped the bully.

Getting back to the current moment Ruby was still trying to think of a way to cheer up her seemingly distressed sister. However, when Yang turned to look at her, the smirk on her face set alarm bell off in Ruby's mind, she knew something bad was about to happen and that it would embarrass her to no end.

"Well if it's not that then it must be wanting to learn from Sir Knight over hear right? I know you two spend a lot of time together paying games and watching movies. If I didn't know better, I would think it was you who was dating him?" she questioned getting Ruby to turn the colour of her name sake much to the growing smirk in Yang's face.

"WHAT?!" Ruby cried out as steam started coming off her head, she should have known Yang was up to something, she was never one to be distressed over something as little as her interest in close quarter combat. While she and Jaune were close, Best friends if you asked her, she was never one to think about having a relationship with anyone. While she was a teenager and had naturally had those interests with puberty, she was never one to think of her friends in that way! A memory of the night in the ball room flashed in her mind but she quickly shocks the memory away. "I'm not dating Jaune! His nice and handsome and a great friend but I still wouldn't date him! It'd be wired to date him and his totally not my type!" She said with a wince given the growing smirk on Yang's face, Ruby quick looked to her friends to get support but all she saw was everyone else trying not to laugh themselves, "Guys? ~~"

"Ok that's enough Yang." Jaune finally said, Nora had gone into a full-blown laugh and had fallen off his back finally freeing him of the exited ginger, he too had a slight laugh at Yang's teasing and blushed all the same, but it looked like Ruby was close to passing out in embarrassment. "Were almost to the dining hall so let's hurry before we end up not having time to eat." He stated much to Ruby's relief as they made their way into the dining hall and into the que for food.

As the group got their lunches, they sat at one of the many tables with RWBY on one side and JNPR on the other. As they ate, they returned to the subject of Jaune's fight as now that the more excitable members had gushed over it, they could finally look at it more critically much to Jaune's hesitation. As Ren and Blake complimented his close quarter combat with Yang and Nora doing the same for his power and Blake and Ruby for his speed it was Weiss and Pyrrha who he was the most hesitant with since they were the best swordswomen of the group and his own was something of a sore subject for him. As Pyrrha tried to bring up his flaws gently, Weiss wasn't as soft as she pointed out like Miss Goodwitch that he had not yet improved his skill with a blade even with Pyrrha's help. Like with the rest of his team, Jaune had been working with Pyrrha to improve his swordsmanship but had little to no results even when asking Weiss to see if she could help but no matter what they did nothing seemed to improve his skill and it was starting to weigh heavy on Jaune, much to his teams worry.

"I'm sorry guys but no matter what I do nothing seems to work, at this point your just wasting your time." Jaune stated with a sigh as he poked at his food. "Even Miss Goodwitch think I should just switch to a different weapon." He stated getting understanding look from the group having suggested that themselves but Jaune was to stubbed to swap to something else.

"Speaking of Miss Goodwitch, this wasn't the first time you two spoke to each other after lesson, why is that?" Blake asked curiously, getting the group to perk up and all turn to the blonde who laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"What? No there's nothing to say there, just some extra advise is all. Hehehe…" he nervously said leading to everyone to think there was something going on and for one of the groups it was a perfect opportunity to tease.

"Is that so~~ I think there is something. ~~ Given how you always denied being into Cereal Girl and Rubes here, maybe it's that you're into older women. ~~" Yang purred out getting blushes from around the table. Weiss's pale white skin went bright red along with have a horrified look on her face. Blake's eyes glazed over as her mind though of one of the books she read where there was a student/teacher relationship causing her to blush pink and have a slight trail of blood leave her nose. Ruby returned to her look from earlier, steam and all, a flash of emotion in her eyes that quickly vanished. Ren kept his stoic look but the slight dust of pink show it still affected him along with Nora who lightly blushed as well and poked her fingers together. Pyrrha had the biggest reaction going the same colour as her heir and tuned to look at Jaune to see his reaction, seeing how much he was blushing himself she couldn't help but react vocally.

"Jaune!?"

"It's not like that! I may have had a crush on her as kid but there's nothing going on between us, I promise!" he called out getting those at the table the either sigh in relive, groin in disappointment or try to play off their own blushes. One however caught a slip in his defence and that was Blake, having worked as an intel gatherer in the fang she was used to catching people slip up on important information.

"Had a crush as a kid? Did you know her when you were younger?" she questioned after wiping the blood from her nose away. Jaune froze when he heard this as everyone's eyes were on him once again. He damned himself for letting slip his old crush on Glynda and thus their relationship. He had promised to not mention that the two had a past when he confronted her after the first combat class so he tried to deflect once again but his friends weren't having it. After a few attempts he just sighed in resignation as it seemed, he had no choice but to tell them. 'Sorry Miss Glynn, but Leadership class did say trust had to be made to lead a team.' He apologised in his head to her as he ignored the voice that told him he was still hiding thing.

"OK, you win. But you can't mention this to anyone. I promised Miss Glynn I wouldn't say anything at the start of the second week." He told the group as they scooted closer to hear about his relation with the school's strictest teacher.

"Wait… Miss Glynn?" Weiss asked getting amused looks from the group as Jaune groaned in annoyance at himself as he slapped his hands on his face.

"Please don't say that name to her, she would kill me if she found out I let her old nickname slip." He groaned out, this conversation was not going on his favour and he knew that Glynda was bound to find out and kick his ass.

"Quit stalling Sir Knight, what's the deal with you and Miss Goodwitch?" Yang interrogated getting a final sigh from Jaune and he looked to the sky, praying this wasn't the beginning of the end for him.

"Well, you see. I've known Miss Goodwitch since I was a kid. It's been a few years since I last saw her, over ten in fact." He started.

"Ten years? You were only around seven back then so how did you know her?" Pyrrha questioned, while she was glad to hear her partner wasn't in some taboo relationship with their teacher, to hear he had a crush on her did make her think he may still have a thing for older women. 'I wonder when his birthday is?'

"Yeah, that's because she was the family babysitter up till then." He confirmed to the group who were shocked to hear the strict witch of Beacon used to look after kids.

"Really? I can't imagine someone as strict as her looking after kids." Yang questioned getting a slight glare from Jaune that no one expected.

"Hey. She was a great babysitter, she was the one to start teaching me and my older sister to cook and would read me stories about heroes. While I did have a crush on her, she was another more mature older sister then my actual one who were only around 12 when she stopped being our sitter." Jaune stated getting smiles from the group at his admiration for their combat teacher, it was clear to see he cared for her.

"Why did she stop then?" Ruby asked with a tilled of her head that he found cute.

"If I remember correctly, she went off to start her Huntress career soon after and given how hectic this job is she was never able to visit, it was only the occasional letter we got at the holidays that we heard she was doing well, they never really mentioned what she was doing so I didn't know she was here. It wasn't till the launch pad that it clicked Miss Goodwitch was my old babysitter since it's been years since I last saw her, ya know?" he finished with a question that everyone nodded to, understanding what the JNPR leader was trying to say.

Taking about Glynda got Jaune thinking of the first time he talked to her at Beacon a few weeks ago and how the two had talked about what had happened in the decade they hadn't seen each other.

* * *

(2 weeks after the initiation)

 _It was the end of the first combat class and the students were making their way out of the room as Miss Goodwitch went about fixing the arena after the last match that had gotten a little out of hand. 'Why did I think it was a good idea to have Miss Xiao-Long and Miss Valkyrie fight on the first day was a good idea?' she thought with a sigh as she used her telekinesis semblance to fix the large craters that covered the floor as well as the dent in the ceiling where Yang had uppercut Nora to finish the match._

 _As he continued to absentmindedly fix the arena, she didn't notice one of her students come up to her, having thought that they had all gone off to continue their day. "um, Miss Goodwitch?" the call of her name snapped her out of her thought as she turned to see a grown face of the boy she used to look after years ago. She wanted to smile at seeing the boy once again, but kept her expression schooled given she was in a classroom environment and had to keep professional._

 _"Yes? How my I be of help Mr Arc?" she questioned the boy turned young adult in front of her who was fidgeting as he tried to think of what to say. 'He may have grown up but his still the awkward little child I remember.' She fondly thought as she waited for him to continue._

 _"Well it just wanted to confirm whether or not I was right about what I called you on the launchpad?" he asked getting a raised brow as the woman thought back to the day of initiation just over a week ago. She had to hold back a smirk at thinking of him being launched just as it clicked in his head as he screamed off into the distance, it was quite a fun memory to think about, but she didn't show it on her face._

 _"I believe it would be best if we stepped into a more private location to discuss this matter, if you would follow me." She stated moving off toward the commentator box overlooking the arena. It was only ever used for more large-scale event as wasn't much use in classes where she stayed closer to the stage to watch fight closer. It was the best place to get privacy in the large building of you didn't count the weight rooms for fighters. As the two stepped into the room with Jaune closing the door behind him, he looked to Glynda who tuned to face him but the stoic, borderline scowl on her face was replaced with a more relaxed smile as she looked at the young Arc. "It has been a few years since we last saw each other but it is still good to see you again Jaune." She told him with a small smile one which he soon retuned._

 _"It has indeed Miss Glynn." He returned the greeting with her old nickname. Hearing the name again she couldn't help but lightly chuckle as shake her head at hearing the name._

 _"Even after 10 years you greet me with that name, it seems you haven't grown up at all," she started as she stepped closer to wrap her arms around him in a friendly hug, she continued to speak even when his own came up to return the kind gesture. "But seeing you now you clearly have grown, if I weren't hearing heels, I'd think you were finally as tall as me." She joked getting a small laugh from Jaune as they parted from the hug._

 _"Hahaha if this was 10 years ago maybe, but just like me you've grown yourself. I think your just doing it to stay taller than me." He joked back getting a laugh in return, but a dangerous smirk made a shiver go down his back._

 _"Now, now Mr Arc, I didn't just here you mention my age now did I?" she questioned with the underline promise of pain in her voice if he answered wrong, given how pale he went he realised how it must have sounded about mentioning her age._

 _"NO! no nothing like that! Well kind of, BUT in more the grown more mature and beautiful not in the being old pa- wait! I mean- I'll just shut up now." He spurted out as he watched her stare the poor boy down with an unflinching gaze as he dug himself deeper into the hole he made. Seeing he was making it worse he just shut himself up with his head tuned away to hide his embarrassment._

 _Seeing the young man fumble over himself cause Glynda to finally laugh as she thought back to how easy it was to embarrass him still even after all these years. "Don't worry Jaune, I'm not mad at you. But hearing you say I'm beautiful makes me think you were trying to hit on me? It would be bad for us to have a relationship given my student even if you did say you wanted to marry me as a child." She teased getting his blush to deepen in colour as he groaned in embarrassment, remembering when he was around 6 and proclaiming to marry her when he was older._

 _"Please don't remind me, it's so embarrassing to hear that now that I'm older and know better." He groaned out getting more laughs from his teacher who covered her mouth to not burst out laughing at the man's blight._

 _"Hahaha, while you have grown into a handsome young man I'll sadly have to decline like last time as I'm not into men so much younger then myself, I'd feel like a cradle robber." She joked with a shake of her head in denial getting an over exaggerated sigh when the blonde male._

 _"Well it's nice to know my luck with girls is still as bad as always. But anyway, it great to see you again Miss Glynn, how have you been over the years?" he questioned after the two had a nice laugh finally getting into learning what the other one had been up to._

 _"Well as you know I left to start my Huntress career by coming here to Beacon for 4 years, not much happened in those years, made a few friends here and there and finished near the top of my class. Spent the next two years working around Vale as a Huntress and given my powerful semblance, I became quite notorious and sought after. It was around this time Professor Ozpin came to me in wanting me to be the new combat teacher at Beacon. I was going to decline at first given how id only been a professional huntress for a short time and I already had an obligation to an apprentice I just started teaching, but given my prowess and record of high-class missions, he deemed me already qualified. And after much persistence and persuasion I agreed to become a teacher here. Since then it been the same with a few missions here and they're over the years, well that and your sister of course." She finished giving Jaune the rundown of her live the last Ten years, Jaune was captivated to hear how well she had been doing for herself this last decade, he knew her semblance from when she used it to keep him and his sisters under control back in the day but to hear it was so powerful, she got fast tracked to the high-class missions impress him even more. Speaking of his sisters he was confused to hear her mention one of his sister since none of them had mentioned Glynda if the previous years._

 _"Sister? What do you mean?" he questioned getting a surprised look in return._

 _"You don't know?" she asked getting a shrug from the boy, thinking about it more she just rolled her eyes as she suspected why that is, "Well it seems that Tamamo forgot to mention that the person she was studying under was in fact me." She stated getting a shocked look from Jaune._

 _"It was you she apprenticed under? How did you manage to do that and be a teacher?" he asked getting a small smile from her as she remember something._

 _"It was just before I left for Beacon, she asked that when she was of age that I would be the one to teach her rather than go to an academy. You remember how the both of us would work on our semblances together so I promised to take her on when she was 17. It was only a few months into her apprentice that Ozpin came to me asking to teach. I was going to decline to focus on your sister but there were some factors that made me change my mind. your sister wasn't to bothers since I only had to teach the combat class at the time, so I spent most of my time with her. It was around the start of her 4th year with me I deemed she was good enough to be a professional Huntress so I used my position to fast tracked her into finishing early. Not long after she finished and went on her way, I was offered the Deputy headmistress position which I took and have now been for the last year." She finished getting a nod from the Arc male._

 _"I see, knowing Tam she probably forgot to mention you since she tends to think we all know what she does, that or to set up a joke of some kind waiting to spring on us." Jaune sighed out getting a nod for Glynda, being her brother and teacher respectively they knew of the girl's like to not take thing seriously and tease others, both were victims of both but had learned to live with it, mostly._

 _"Enough about me how have you been Jaune, I was surprised to see you here given you never had a weapon. I suspected you came without any aura and would have had to pull you out of initiation, but again was surprised to see you use it. If your aura's unlocked you must have asked someone to do it, I thought your family didn't approve of that method?" she asked with narrowed eyes getting Jaune to break out in a cold sweat, being so close to the family Glynda new about its connection to weapons and importance of unlocking once aura, memories of comforting a crying Jaune who could never unlock his own and felt like a stain to his family name plagued her memory but to see him here now with aura while a happy thing was still suspicious to her._

 _"Well, if you must know a few years ago when I turned 15, I finally got a weapon." He stated with a large smile on his face, Glynda didn't expect him to get one so late in his life but could only smile to hear that he finally had a weapon of his own. Her happiness tuned to confusion however as she remembers in the initiation and the fight, he had earlier that day he was still using his Crocea Mors that he had as a child, if he had a weapon whey didn't, he use it? She decided to voice this._

 _"If you have your own weapon why do you still use Crocea Mors? While I assume you have some attachment to it wouldn't you be more inclined to use your main one instead? given your family's disagreement with any one not bonded with you." She questioned getting a downcast look from the boy as he looked away almost ashamed, worried something happened she placed a converting hand on his shoulder in worry. "Jaune, why don't you use your weapon?"_

 _Looking back at Glynda he sighs out and went on to explain what happened on the day get unlocked his semblance and why he planned to go through Beacon without Excalibur. Glynda was shocked to hear what had happened and undertook that this was something Jaune thought he had to do but as a professional Huntress she saw how foolish he was being in handicapping himself. Bring up her worries of what he was doing he was adamant about doing this his way and wanting to prove himself. But it was clear her point had placed doubt in his mind about the whole thing, she just hoped he got over his problem before it leads to his death, or someone else's._

* * *

(Present)

"Jau- Jaune, Jaune!" a voice called out to him, snapping him out of his memory of his interaction with Glynda, but not his mind. Since then in almost all his fights she started suitably suggested switching to Excalibur but recently she became more open about him changing weapons. While it did grind on his mind, he started to question why he was doing it this way, he spent years dreaming of having a weapon of his own and he finally got it! Even after two years of gruelling training to catch up one moment was all it took to crush his new confidence and revert him back to the sad frail boy of his youth. 'I'll give it until the end of the semester to decided, I'll give it a few more weeks' he told himself holding on the to the small line of resolve he had left for his idea. he could sadly say he would not make it through all of Beacon like this, but he at least wanted to last a semester and prove HER wrong, that he could do it himself, at least somewhat.

"JAUNE!"

Jumping out of his seat he eyes snapped to the side and locked with a pair of worried emerald that looked back into his confused Azure. "Yeah Pyrrha, what's up?" "You were spaced out for a while, are you ok?" she asked as the others had their own conversations. She had noticed he would often go into deep thought with a frown on his face, he always looks sad to the champion in those moments and she felt it was her job to make sure he was alright, sadly whenever she asks, she always got the same response.

"I'm alright, just thinking is all." She told her with a smile, she had grown a liking to seeing him smile but, in these cases, the sad look in his eyes always soured it.

"Ok if you say so, just let me know if I can help." She said back with her own smile, hoping to brighten his mood so his smile was the one she liked. Whenever they had this exchange in the end, she always cured herself for not knowing what to do to help, having little to no friends growing up she had no idea on how to help him get over what was bothering him.

"I will Pyrrha, I promise." He told her back, the light in his eyes returning slightly causing her own smile to widen slightly in return, she didn't solve the problem, but she took the small victory as it was.

"OW! That hurts!" a voice cried out braking the relatively normal mood. The two teams turned to see Team CRDL surrounding a rabbit Faunus who was gripping her lunch tray tightly in pain as Cardin had one of his hand's griped tightly around one of the girl's brown rabbit ears. The girl was Velvet Scarlatina, a second-year student and while most would wonder why she doesn't just kick Cardin's ass which she could quite easily do, she was never one to resort to violence, that along with fearing any backlash she would get for attacking a human stopped her from retaliating and thus she had to take the pain until he let go or someone stepped in. "please stop…" she pleaded but yelped as Cardin tugged her ear with a cruel laugh, his team doing so as well.

"See I told you they were real." He told his cronies with another tug, getting her to whimper in pain. Cardin was looking for a way to vent his frustration from losing to the Arc in combat class, his nose was coved in bandages as it had to be reset given Jaune had broken it when his boot smashed into it. The humiliation of the defeat had caused the boy to find someone else to make more miserable then himself. It just so happened one of the regular animals he bullied in their place was walking past his table with some giant targets on her head for him to seize.

As the team of bullies kept harassing the poor girl our two team were watching on discussed at what the ginger boy was doing.

"Atrocious. I can't stand people like him." Pyrrha sneered, a rare scowl on her face as she watches, the whole table were no better as each member's face slowly dropped into one of anger.

"You're not the only one." Blake hissed with narrow eyes, wanting nothing more than to tear the thugs throat out.

"It must be hard being a Faunus." Yang commented, her eyes sombre as she thought of how tough Faunus have it for no good reason.

"Such platen acts of assault should not be allowed in a place like Beacon." Weiss coldly stated, while she didn't much care for the Faunus, she didn't like the idea of attacking anyone at all expect for if they were criminals, like those of the White Fang.

"Shouldn't we go stop him?" Ruby questioned getting looks from around the table. "I mean we can't just sit her and let this carry on." She stated, her tendency to get involved to help someone shining through once more. While the group was focusing on Ruby's little rally speech no one noticed the other leader of the group stand up and start walking over to the laughing thugs.

"Ruby's right! We should get over there and break their legs!" Nora cheered, having heard enough and wanting to get to the best part. "Just say the word fearless leader and well crush our enemies in the glory of team JNPR!" she finished pointing to where she thought her leader was, having been too into her moment to see if he was still there, which he wasn't much to her confusion. "Err, where'd he go?"

When she said this the group look around to see where the blond leader had gone off to, it was Ren who spotted him, "It appears our leader has already made his way over." He commented as the females followed his eyes, just in time to see Jaune grip down on Cardin's wrist tightly. The sudden hand on his wrist caused him to lose his own on Velvet's ear, finally being free she took a step back and looked to see who interfered and was shocked to see a familiar blonde.

"Jaune?" she asked but only got his eyes to flash to hers and a small smile in return before his Azure looked back into dumbfound Indigo.

"I think that enough of that, don't you think Cardin?" he questioned, Caiden not expecting anyone to interfere allowed his mind to finally catch up to what was happening and when he register it was once again the blonde twerp that was getting in his way snarled as he shot to his feet pulling his arm away from the loosening grip he glared down at the person he hated the most at the moment.

"What do you think you're doing Arc?" he spat out, both figuratively and literally. Jaune brought his hand up to wipe his face before coldly replying to him.

"What I'm doing is stopping you from hurting someone, again." The hall had gone quite as they watched the two leader's standoff, people wisped and took video, some hoping for a fight to break out.

"Funny, all I see is an animal that need to be reminded of its place, not a person in sight." He shot back getting angry glares from the room, Velvet herself looked disheartened at the comment but a hand on her shoulder pulled her out of her depression as she looked to Jaune who stood next to her, pulling her into a side hug as he glared directly into Cardin's eyes.

"That 'animal' your referring to is my friend, and if I were you, I'd watch what you say before you have to get your nose reset again." Jaune commented back, whispers and oohs spread around the room as Cardin snarled in anger, the fact Jaune brought up his injury really grinned the boy's gears.

"You may be a dissent brawler Arc, but you can barely handle me in a one on one, I'd like to see you smirk when you go against my team." He growled, his team mates moving next the him in a show of support, seeing that he now outnumbered the blonde boy a vicious smirk made its way to his face, he was about to give the order to beat the stupid knight for standing up to him again, but a group of footsteps caused him to stop.

"Typical bully attitude to gang up on someone." Pyrrha commented as she, Ren and Nora moved to flank Jaune showing their own support in their leader the tension in the room increased as the leader stand-off had escalated to a team standoff.

"I wonder what they would do if they were outnumbered instead?" Ruby questioned as she along with her own team came up next to their sister team. Now it was two team's vs one and the odds were not in CDLN's favour as eight of the top combat students stood together against his own. The room watch with bated breath, waiting for someone to finally brake the tension in the room.

The stalemate was finally broke when Cardin, seeing he was out matched scoffed before flagging his team to stand down. "I'm done with the animal, let's get out of here guys." He commanded his team who after sending one final glare to the group moved to leave the room. Just before Cardin stepped out, he turned and locked eyes with Jaune, "Better watch your back Arc, one of these days you're not going to have your groupies to watch your back." He growled out before departing, seeing that a fight wasn't going to break out people went back to their own conversations and food as they waited for the bell to go.

Jaune himself took a breath to calm his nerves, while he had confronted Cardin on multiple occasions this was the first time there was so much tension in the air. The twos conflicts and been escalated recently and he felt it was coming to a boiling point and just hopped nothing bad happened.

"Thank you Jaune you didn't have to step in like that." Velvet spoke with a small smile as Jaune turned to face her, Jaune just smiled in return. "Its fine Velvet, like I said before I always lookout for a friend." He stated getting her smile to grow at his kind words.

*ahem*

A cough brought the twos attention to the rest of Jaune friends who had confused looks on their face, some looked jealous at first but wiped it away before anyone noticed.

"Who might your friend be Jaune?" his partner asked with a smile but if one looked closely, she seemed a bit defensive for unknown reasons.

Both blushing in embarrassment, Jaune chuckled before introducing her. "This is Velvet, we meet a couple of weeks ago." He stated, everyone greeted the rabbit girl who bowed in greeting," Hello it's nice to meet you all." Now that she wasn't in pain, they noticed she had an accent to her voice but none of them could place it.

"So how is it that you and Jaune know each other?" Ren asked, knowing it was that everyone wanted to know. The blush once again returned to Velvet as she tried to tell them of how they meet but was too flustered to answer, Jaune luckily came to her rescue again.

"What she's trying to say is this isn't the first time Cardin and his cronies have messed with her." He started with a frown, one his friends mirrored, "I was on my way back to the room when I found them harassing Velvet and stepped into help, it was one of our first confrontations, so he backed off easily enough. After that we just ended up chatting and hanging out. Velvet's a second year so she's giving me some help with some lessons I struggled with and thus we became friend." He finished getting nods from his friends.

Just before anyone could ask another question the bell rang for afternoon classes. seeing they had to split up the groups went on their way, Velvet tagged along with the group consisting of Jaune, Weiss, Blake and Pyrrha as she had not taken History the previous year, leaving it for her first semester of her 2nd year. As the group moved their way through the corridors, Pyrrha kept taking glances at her leader. The memory of him in deep thought kept playing in her head. She then resolved to finally confront her leader on what was bugging him and hoped he would finally open to her.

* * *

END

 **And that's chapter 5, I hope you enjoyed it! As I said I was going to continue this chapter until the conclusion of Forever Fall but it was getting to big for only one chapter. It will take me a day or two to finish the next one and check it over but it should be out before charismas.**

 **One thing I feel I need to address is the fact this story is going to be a Arkos ship when the poll was clear Lancaster and given the negative response to that choose I feel I have to explain why I chose it, not everyone's going to be happy even if I do this but I feel it best to tell you why.**

 **The short answer is that poor planning on my part lead to this backlash. When I first but the poll up alongside chapter 1 I only had a vague idea of where I wanted to take this story, I only had the first Volume planned out and was only just planning Volume 2's changes. When I got the point I finished up to Volume 3 I knew I wouldn't be able to handle writing a harem story so I removed it, now that I only had one girl to worry about it was earlier to plan how a relationship would grow with them and then change it to be more specific for that girl.**

 **But here is where I hit a wall, given I had planned all up to the end of Volume 3 and the events in between volumes, I had no idea where to take my story, should I kind of follow canon to see how that goes? Or start going 100% original in this story and see if I can continue it without the framework of an episode to write around. But then an idea hit me and I finally knew where I wanted to take my story but as I started planning what would be my Vol 4 and beyond, I knew that the pairing I wanted to do for it would be Arkos as it would work best for where I wanted to take the story. I knew that with Ruby winning the poll I would have to make a choose, should I go with what people voted for and try and work around Ruby as the main love interest? Or should I forgo peoples choose, more than likely disappointing them so that the story I write could better follow the ideas I have?**

 **In the end I thought creating a better story as a whole would be better in the end and that even if people leave due to not following my own poll but I hope in the long run I can make it up to them by showing why I did what I did.**

 **But still I would like to say I'm Sorry if you felt cheated with my choose and I promise that if I ever do a poll in the future that it will be better planned out and that I WILL follow it, my inexperience as a writer has caused problem for you all and I sincerely apologise for it.**

 **With that all said and done given the next half of this chapter will be out in a few days I'm going to be answering question in the next chapter so I can take any other ones form this one in the short time it's out as well.**

 **Till then, Malluk.**


	6. Chapter 6 - The Worth of One's Pride

**Hey, Malluk here with chapter 6 of Knight of Hunters!**

 **Let's not waste any time and jump write into the chapter people have been waiting for!**

 **RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay night is property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting, only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Pease support the original products.**

 **Edited by: M.H. Pintner**

* * *

Chapter 6

 _The Worth of One's Pride_

History class was underway. Jaune was currently sitting by himself as this was one of the few classes that had a set seating plan. As such he was by himself as his friends sat on the right most seats while he was in the center on the first row. Sadly, for Jaune, someone he knew was siting close to him. behind the blonde was someone who he wished he wasn't there, Cardin Winchester.

Luckily or unluckily he was 100% focused on his history teacher, Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck. The man was very much the opposite of their Grimm studies teacher with the fact while Professor Port could spend hours getting to the point thanks to his stories, Dr Oobleck instead talked only about the subject that mattered, however he did it in all the span of a few minutes. The man never seemed to take a breath let alone a brake as he blitzes through as much information as possible, wanting to cram all his knowledge about the current historical event into his student.

Sadly, for his students this made it hard to keep up with the motor mouth Professor. Most would lose track of where he was in the story and had to wait for him to finish to ask him to go slower which led to less detailed summaries of event that would require extra reading to fully grasp.

One student however who didn't have a problem with this, was Jaune. While in most of his classes he would do well, being in the high percentage of his year the one class he excels the most at was history. When he was growing up, he grew fascinated with the history of his family and would spend hours reading about them. This had led him to read about remnants history, which gave him a great appreciation for the subject.

"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War" The professor continued the class topic, he stood in behind his desk that was covered in different papers with a map of the world behind him, also covered in papers of different dig sights and connections. "Humankind was quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie." He stated pointing to south-east of the world map where the landmass know as Menagerie was located. No one notice a bow twitch at the mention of this, mostly due to focusing on the professor dashing around his table after a chug of his drink.

"Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!" he continued, once again zipping around the room and taking sips of his beverage.

"Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?" he asked aloud, a few hands rose one of which was Velvet who shyly rose her own hand, as if afraid someone would yell at her for doing so. Seeing hands raised Oobleck shook his head in sadness, "Dreadful! simply dreadful! Remember students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence! *sip* I mean, just look at what happened to White Fang!" the mention of the peaceful gone terrorist group caused many of the people in the room to flinch in discomfort, the monochrome half of RWBY the most.

"Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?" Weiss's hand shot up, wanting to move away from discussing the group "Yes?"

"The Battle of Fort Castle!" she answered getting a nod from the man.

"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?" he asked again, wanting to get his class involved and making sure they were paying attention. But as the Doctors focus was on one side of the room, Cardin decided to create some entertainment. Taking a crunched-up piece of paper he flicked the ball at the back of Jaune's head. Jaune was paying too much attention to notice and flinched when the ball hit the back of his head. Annoyed at the distraction he turned to see who threw the paper at him and was unsurprised to see Cardin chuckling to himself in satisfaction. Sending the boy a glare, he didn't notice Dr Oobleck's eyes travel over to him. Seeing his student not focused on his lecture he called the young Arc out."

"Mr. Arc!" he yelled in his face as he had rushed in front of the distracted boy, getting him to jump, "While you show a great knowledge for History, that does not give you the right to ignore my lectures! Seeing as how you seem to already know this, how about you answer the question?" he challenged.

Cursing himself for falling for Cardin's prank, Jaune quickly pulled himself together and thought about the question. He already knew how the battle went having read about it years ago, but knew there were many factors into why the General lost. Jaune decided to go with the most common answered as it was most likely what the doctor was after. "Well the main advantage the Faunus had over his army was the fact most Faunus have a form of night vision." He answered getting a nod from the man.

"Excellent Mr. Arc. Indeed, the Faunus are well known to have night vision due to their animal traits. General Lagune, from what accounts say, choses to ignore this piece of information and planned an assault on the Faunus forces in the dead of night, leaving his army blind while the Faunus had clear vision of the General's army. His forces were either wiped out or captured. Now can anyone think as to why he did this?" he asked the class; a few hands went up, but it was Pyrrha who was chosen to answer.

"He was arrogant, he believed that the Faunus in their smaller number would be unable to stand against his army. And while they were outnumbered the Faunus were better trained and could move freely during the night. He led his army into a situation that was heavily in his enemy's favor for the simple fact he saw them as inferior." She stated getting a nod from the professor showing his agreement with her answer.

A scoff however brought everyone's attention to the racist of the room. Cardin had his feet up on his desk as he crossed his arms. "Well, it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." He snarked getting glares from the room and a disappointed look from his teacher.

"It's more likely he was just an "idiot"," Blake's voice cut through the room, Cardin glared seeing she starred right at him when she said idiot, "General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured." A smirk made it ways onto her face as she continued stare Cardin down. "Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." The clear jab was not lost on Cardin who stood up and growled at the girl, more than ready to put the "bow bitch" in her place.

"Mr. Winchester! Please take your seat!" Oobleck ordered, Cardin did so but didn't stop glaring at the bow wearing girl. "Seeing as you seem to be missing some crucial information on this subject, you can see me after class for additional readings!" He ordered getting another growl from the ginger boy. "Now! Moving on!"

As Oobleck continued the lesson Jaune couldn't help but laugh at the miserable face on Cardin, this didn't go unnoticed. Cardin was once again embarrassed, even if it was the bow bitch who this, in his mind he felt it was all Jaune's fault for not failing to answer the question. He knew that he would have to get back at the blonde, one way or another.

* * *

Classes were finally done for the day and Jaune stepped out of History followed behind by his partner along with Weiss and Blake. Velvet had shot them a quick goodbye before swiftly leaving to find her team.

As they moved towards their rooms to meet up with their own teams the girls casually talked among themselves about what they plan to do for the rest of the day, Pyrrha was quick to notice Jaune had was once again thinking deeply to himself. Whenever there was nothing to distract him, he would often start thinking about whatever was bothering him. Seeing that they were nearing their rooms Pyrrha thought this would be the perfect time to confront her leader about what was bothering him.

"Jaune?" she called out, snapping out of his daze he turned a questioning look on the red head, wondering what she needed.

"Yes Pyrrha?"

Moving towards the boy she began her plan, "I was wondering if you could come with me for a bit? I wanted to talk to you about something." She asked, seeing nothing wrong with his partner asking to talk to him, they said their goodbye to the monochrome pair and made their way towards the roof of the dormitories.

Jaune was confused as to why she would have brought him to the roof but didn't but much thought into it as he stepped closer to the edge to look over at the ground. Seeing how it may have looked he couldn't help but play a cruel joke. "I know you have an image Pyrrha, but I didn't think I was doing so bad as your leader and partner that you would resort to this?" He told her who looked confused at first, after a few moments her eyes widened at what he was implying.

"What? No!" Pyrrha cried grasping his arm and pulling him from the edge, "I would never do something like that! You've been a great leader and perfect partner, I would never want to get rid of you!" she told him in a panic. Upon seeing his smirk however, she knew he was playing with her again. Pouting in anger she glared at the boy in annoyance before sighing, she should have expected this from the banter the two usually have but given what she wanted to talk about she didn't want to start one of their play fights.

Seeing the frown come to her face Jaune knew he may have pushed it a bit too far this time and began to apologize, "Oh, sorry Pyrrha. That was going a bit too far. I know you would never do something like that and I think you're a great partner as well. I wouldn't trade you for anyone else." he told the girl with an apologetic smile, Pyrrha returned the smile with a light blush coming to her face at his words, a strange warmth filled her chest when he told her that, she didn't quite understand it but it had started happening after their training sessions a few weeks ago and had been growing since, she planned to look into it after she dealt with whatever was bothering Jaune. "And to make it up to you, I'll do anything you ask, just name it and its done, Arc's word." He promised. Hearing that she knew this was a perfect opportunity to question the blonde, and given he used his family name he would have to answer given his family moto.

"I think I'll take you up on that offer, it just so happens there's been something on my mind for a few weeks now and it was why I brought you up here in the first place." She told him with a nervous shuffle.

Seeing that she was already planning to ask him something Jaune saw it as killing two birds with one stone and nodded his head, "Alright then, ask away, I'm an open book." He told her with a smile. She smiled herself but took a few moments to question him, it was the best chance she had to get answers out of him and wanted to ask the right question that she would get the answer she wanted.

Finally thinking of what to say a determined look came to her features as she locked eyes with her partner showing him how serious she was and asked something Jaune was not expecting at all. "What's bothering you?" a confused look over took his face.

"What?" Jaune asked, not understanding the question.

"More specifically, why is it whenever your combat skills are mentioned you always flinch and that whenever we train with your weapon, no matter how much work you but into them you never seem to improve." Jaune paled slightly at hearing Pyrrha's question, while it was foolish, he hoped she or anyone of his friends wouldn't question his lack of improvement with Crocea Mors, at least so directly. He had been questioned why he didn't just change to a different weapon and would usually pull the family tradition card and they would leave the matter alone mostly. Pyrrha however seemed to be more suspicious then he thought, he didn't expect the amount of time they spent training and hanging out would make her suspicious of him.

"What? I don't know what you mean, I'm fine." He tried to deny, not wanting to talk about his problems. "I'm just stressing over school, nothing to wor- "

"Why are you lying?" his mouth snapped shut at hearing her say that. It was softly spoken, barely a whisper but the weight of those words hit him like a brick, taking a closer look at Pyrrha he noticed her head was down, eyes shadowed, and she was trembling slightly. "You promised you would answer my question. You gave your word." She told him in a voice full of pain and worry.

"I…" Jaune said at a loss.

"Please Jaune, tell me what's wrong, were partner's, right?" she asked final looked at him again. Her eyes were watering slightly, and he could see the hurt in them. He wanted so badly to tell her what was wrong but for some reason his throat locked up, he couldn't get the words out. Whether it was due to his stubbornness or his fear at her reaction, that he had been lying to her for as long as they have known each other. But no matter how hard he tried the words never came.

"That's… personal, like, very personal. I don't know if I can tell you."

"Please Jaune, you my best friend and I can't stand to see you sad, just give me something, anything. Please." She begged him almost in tears at the fact he still wouldn't open to her and it broke her heart to think he didn't trust her.

Seeing how much his silence was hurting her he grit his teeth, 'What the hell is wrong with you, why is it so hard to just tell her, say something!' he screamed at himself, taking a breath to stop his rising anger at himself he turns away from Pyrrha, not wanting to face her as he spoke.

When Jaune turned around Pyrrha's heart broke a little, thinking he was going to ignore her now, 'I shouldn't have asked, if I had just kept my mouth shut, he wouldn't hate me, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.'

"When… when I was a kid, I was the black sheep of my family." Jaune began snapping Pyrrha out of her thoughts, hope filled her heart once more at his words. he was finally opening up to her, if only a little.

"I was always the weakest, no matter how hard I worked, no matter how much I worked myself, my training never bore fruit. I've used Crocea Mors since I was a kid, yet I can only every be mediocre with it." He explained, while she was confused at his wording, she was more shocked to learn he had been spending years trying to improve, seeing how depressed he would get over his lack of improvement this last month must have been a common feeling for the knight and that hurt to think of.

"If it never worked how come you never used something else? You can say its family tradition but given how much of a problem you had, I'm sure they would have made you the exception of the rule?" she asked, wanting to know more but Jaune was still quite tight lipped about it, this was also the first time he talked about his past to her even if no one else in the team had yet.

A hollow laugh came from Jaune, he found it funny how it was the fact he WAS the exception, the odd one out that got him to where he is that he couldn't help but laugh. "It's not like they wanted me to use Crocea Mors, more like it was the only option."

"What do you mean?" she asked, not understanding what he meant. Jaune wanted to tell her about his family's connection to their weapons, but it was something he wasn't too comfortable talking about now and it would take way too long to explain.

"It doesn't really matter." He didn't answer, choosing to avoid that topic for now, "Things changed when I turned 15. I was exploring my family Armory when I came across a different sword. It was located deep in there but when I touched it, something just clicked, and I knew it was my weapon." He told her. While the mention of a family armory made her want to question why he couldn't have a different weapon, hearing he had a different sword shocked her. She had only ever seen him wield Crocea Mors, so if he had a different sword why didn't he use it instead?

"If you had a different weapon why don't you use it instead? Are you not as skilled with it given you would have only had it for two years from what you said?" when she asked, Pyrrha expected that to be the case but when he heard Jaune laugh again and shake his head, she knew that was not the case.

"No, the opposite in fact, I was a natural with it, I became a prodigy overnight. I was finally able to fight at the level of my family, well I almost was. I was still 15 years behind, so I spent a good year and a half training non-stop to catch up with my sisters." He explained. Hearing the joy returned to his voice as he spoke brought her happiness, but she was still confused. 'If he was so great with this other sword why didn't he use it?'

Before she could ask Jaune seamed to already know she was going to so continued. "But around six months ago things changed, in my excitement at finally being able to live up to the family name. I spent all my time focusing on my training and it put some stress on my friendships. I started neglecting the few friends that I had and ended up ruining my relationship with them." He told her with sorrow. Pyrrha was sad to hear his obsession over training led to him not having friends, something she could relate to. When she won her first tournament, training to win the next was all she did nonstop for the next three years. By the fourth, anyone who wanted to be her friend always had an ulterior motive and it ruined her chances at making friends.

"By the time I realized what I did, it was too late. They didn't want to hear my excuses, and when it came time to go to secondary school, they all went to Mistral while I headed here to Vale."

"Is that why you don't use it then? Because you blame it for losing your friends?" she asked wanting to know if that was why he never use this weapon of his.

"It's part of the reason, but the main reason I don't use it, is for something else."

"And what was that?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well…" he paused almost as if scared to talk about this next part, but he shook it off and continued. "Me and my eldest sister had a fight, a spar that ended poorly to be exact." he began getting Pyrrha's full attention at the mention of his oldest sister. "I looked up to her a lot, wanting to be just like her when I grew up. But for some reason she didn't like the fact I was growing so strong so fast. I didn't know why until after the fight why that was, but we ended up fighting and for the first time ever, I was able to land a hit on her." He told the now shocked Pyrrha. She knew of his sister's reputation, she may be called the 'Goddess of Victory' by her fans, but even she wasn't stupid enough to fight the 'Crimson King' in battle, knowing she would easily be defeated, even with all the armor the other woman wore. But to hear Jaune somehow managed to hit her was extremely shocking. 'Just how much better is he with this sword to be able to do that?'

"After I managed to hit her, her anger exploded, and she told me how "without my sword I would be nothing, that the only reason I was strong was due to the sword." It crushed me to hear her say that to me, that along with my friends leaving lead me to the idea if I could finish Beacon without using it, I could prove I'm not weak." He finished. While he did leave things out of his explanation, Pyrrha was somewhat glad to finally know what was bothering him, but a part of her couldn't help but feel conflicted at the fact Jaune was handicapping himself. On one hand she could see why he was doing this, he spent so much time with little confidence in his ability that when he finally stood along his family that it came as a shock to his sister that she ended up lashing out at him for changing and as a result, he reverted to his old self to prove he could do it himself. But on the other hand, she saw how foolish it is of him to purposely weaken himself just to prove his sister wrong. By the sounds of it, it was only a slight attitude problem he developed due to the rapid growth he started making, and even if his sister wasn't happy with his sudden growth, he shouldn't start handicapping himself. The more she thought about it the more it annoyed her, she started thinking of their time training and fighting together and how much of it was wasted for the simple fact he was holding back and with that she finally snapped.

"You idiot." Her voice spoke out, shocked at her words Jaune turned his wide eyes on Pyrrha who had a slightly angry look in her eyes.

"I'm Sorry?" Jaune said confused by her words.

"I said you idiot!" she yelled causing him to jump. "While I can see why you've chosen to do this, I can't help but think that for someone that's so good at strategy that you would do something so stupid." She told him. Jaune was too shocked to interrupt, so Pyrrha continued to lay into the blonde.

"Your telling me that since I've known you, you've been lying to me about your skills and the only reason for doing so, is because your older sister didn't like the fact you were improving!? That's so childish!" she cried looking even more heated as she continued to think about all the time they had spent together to try and get him to improve but to hear he was just holding back annoyed the champion to no end, while she would like to keep the conversation less heated the competitive side of her was rearing its head and it was not happy.

"Look I'm Sorry! But this is something I must do, I have to prove that I can do it by myself." He tried to explain but Pyrrha was having none of it, she could see Jaune wasn't ok with what he was doing, but he kept it secret and the fact he spoke of doing it himself meant that their partnership was just as important as proving himself, and that really stung. Pyrrha anger started to fade but it was quickly replaced with sadness and disappointment, something Jaune found even worse to be on the receiving end of.

"Is that it then? wanting approval? what happens when you get into a fight that you can't win but could have if you had just used your main weapon?" she questions, but all Jaune did was mumble words that she just ignored as she continued. "You're going to risk your life just to help your pride?" when she spoke of his pride, Jaune's mind went blank. Was he doing this for his pride? Was it worth his life just to prove he can do it himself?

"What about when our team is in danger? Will your pride allow you to save Nora or Ren or me?" Jaune's mind was a storm of idea, trying to think of a way to responded but nothing came out. Seeing him be silent Pyrrha gave a disappointed sigh before moving past the blonde, she had gotten the answer she was after, it just wasn't one she was happy with. As she was about to step inside, she turned one last time, sadness clear in her eyes.

"I hope it will be worth it in the end…" and with that said she left Jaune, alone to think about what he was doing.

* * *

The rest of the week there was a tension between Jaune and Pyrrha and it was plain to see to everyone. The two rarely spoke to each other, only being polite to one another. When Pyrrha saw Jaune, a look of sadness would come to her eyes and she would try and approach him but when he saw her a look of shame came over him and he would avoid talking to her, a part of Pyrrha felt it was her fault Jaune was acting this way but could never get him alone to apologize and it saddened her.

"What's been going on between you and Jaune?" Nora asked as she bounced up on Ren's bed. She, Ren and Pyrrha were all sitting in their bedroom as the sun set outside. The three were relaxing as they planned to get an early night since tomorrow was the Forever Fall trip, Ren was cheking over his weapon, Storm Flower, to make sure they were ready for the trip into the Grimm infested forest, he didn't want to have any problems if he had to fight and a jammed gun could mean life or death. Pyrrha herself was currently looking out the window, a glum expression on her face as she continued to think of her leader and how he was avoiding her.

"Indeed, while I'm sure you two can figure out whatever it is going on between yourselves, but as your teammates and friends we are wondering if there was anything that we could do to help you two reconnect." Ren spoke next grapping both girls' attention as he continued to try and help Pyrrha "Given we are also heading into Grimm territory it would not be wise to be divided like you are, it would be best to recollect before were place in a dangerous situation." He finished with a small smile aimed at the champion.

"Ren's right, its time the both of you stop mobbing around and made up! Its SOOO depressing watching you two dances around each other." Nora added hugging Pyrrha, their willingness to help did bring a smile to her face, she was so glad she gained friends like Nora and Ren, it was nice to finally have friends.

Pyrrha while happy sighed when the thought of friends brought her first to her head, his large smile and bright blue eyes flashed in her mind as she thought about what to tell her teammates. "A few night ago, I had a talk with Jaune, some things came to light about himself and I ended up getting mad at him for keeping it from me. In my anger I ended up yelling at him and hurting his feelings, now he won't even talk with me as he feels he betrayed me." She explained getting their attention. "It's all my fault, if I hadn't lost my cool, we could still have a good relationship, but I ruined it." She finished clearly depressed at ruining her friendship with her best friend. Nora tightened the hug as she comforted her friend with Ren getting up and moving to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure Jaune will come around, you two are partners your, bound to have fights now and again but in the end, you'll sort thing out." He told her getting a nod in return, Nora adding her own comforting words. "Right, you and Jaune-Jaune are just too good together, there's no way you two won't get back together." She confidently said, Pyrrha did blush given the way she said it made them sound like a couple but couldn't help but smile and nod back.

"Your right, I just hope its soon. I miss him." She finished, taking comfort in her two friends as she hoped Jaune and her relationship would heal soon.

What none of them knew was just outside, Jaune had been listening and had heard his partners worry. He couldn't help but sigh as he took a seat in the floor next to the door, slapping his head on the wall. "Good going Jaune" he sarcastically told himself, ever since his talk with Pyrrha he had become ashamed of himself for being so selfish, he spent so many years doing things to make others happy as it was something he enjoyed doing, but in his attempt to prove himself, he ended up hurting his friends instead. It was just like when he first got Excalibur, only focusing on himself and not his friends. He promised himself he wouldn't do it again, but it seemed he one again broke that promise.

"Jaune?" a voice broke him of his thought as he turned to see his fellow leader and one of his best friends Ruby in her PJ's. "What's got you so down? Well more than you have been this last week." She asked getting another sigh form the blonde.

"I, messed up." He stated getting her full attention, "I was keeping something from Pyrrha, something important. When I told her about it, she ended up getting mad at me. She told me how silly I was being and how stupid it was and the more I think about it, I can't help but agree with her and now I feel guilty for keeping it from her and want to apologize, but I'm too much of a coward to approach her." He told her releasing another sigh as his head dropped into his hands. "I'm a failure."

"Nope." Ruby stated as his eyes looked up at her.

"Nope?" Jaune repeated. Confused, he looked up at the young reaper

"Nope." She repeated, moving to sit next to her best male friend. "You're a leader now, Jaune. You're not allowed to be a failure." She told him

"But... I'm keeping stuff from my team, stuff that could affect them. Doesn't that make me a failure of a leader and friend?" he asked, Ruby took a moment to think about it before replying.

"Nope!" seeing her repeat herself again he could only snort a laugh, it seemed Ruby was having none of his self-deprecation.

"You know, you're not the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff." He told her, just getting a cheeky smile in return.

"Nope!" seeing him roll is eyes again she got back to the issue at hand, "Jaune, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid..." while he did flinch at that statement she carried on"... and you might've failed in being a good friend!" he groaned aloud hearing that, while it hit to close to home he couldn't blame her for it since she didn't know about his past "But, you can't be one now. You know why?"

"Why?" he asked, hoping whatever she said had a point.

"Because it's not just about you anymore" hearing that, he remembers the day he gave Ruby a speech about being better for her team." You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do! And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us." He was sure now that she was just repeating back what she told him almost a month ago, and to hear it be used against himself almost caused him to facepalm at his stupidity. "We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second. Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune. And I think that you can be." He really was an idiot and by the smile on her face, Ruby knew just what she was saying and knew how it was affecting him "Have a good night, Jaune!" she gave him with one final hug before getting up and moving to her room.

"That was pretty cheeky of you to use my own words against me like that Rubes." He suddenly said causing him to turn and look at her, "Thanks." He told her with his trademark smile the light returning to his eyes. Seeing him smile caused her own to widen and a dust of pink to light her cheeks, she enjoyed seeing her friends smile but his seemed to be one of the brightest.

"No problem, Good night, Sir Knight." He said back before entering her room. Left alone once more Jaune finally knew what he had to do, he would apologize to Pyrrha and start being a better leader and friend from now on.

"It's not about me anymore." He told himself before entering his room seeing his friends in bed, he resolved to do better by his team from now on. Dress in his own PJ's he climbed into bed, resolved to fix his mistakes.

* * *

It was the morning of the Forever Fall trip and team were in the Armory gathering armor and weapons ready for the trip out into the wilds. Team JNPR was no different, each member was at their own locker gathering their equipment and preparing to head to their designated Bullhead. Ren was gathering clips of ammo for Storm flower as Nora stood next to him, having already stocked up on ammo and now explained her excitement to her best friend.

"OH, I can wait to get there! What do you think it will be like? Do you think we'll see Grimm? Do you think the sap will be delicious? Could we get some extra for pancakes?"

"Nora?" Ren said.

"Yes Ren?" Nora replied.

"We will find out soon, just be patient." He stoically told her, "I'm sure we'll be able to obtain a few extra jars if we have time." He finished with a small smile while Nora's smile turned into a happy grin.

"Ok Ren." The hammer maiden said happily.

While the two were having their own discussion, the other half of JNPR was quite as Jaune and Pyrrha strapped their armor on. Pyrrha was too shy to try and strike a conversation while Jaune was too busy staring at Excalibur that was in his locker. While it may have spent most of its time in the locker, Jaune would take it out from time to time to train with it. He always planned to start using the sword and didn't want to get rusty with using it, so under the excuse of calling his family, he would take Excalibur to train by himself. His training with the golden sword always proved to be calming for the blonde, like he was whole again if only for a few hours before he once again locked it away to continue his self-imposed challenge, a challenge he plans on dropping.

While he strapped his last glove on, he could help but think of his conversation with Pyrrha a few days ago. What if they run into a strong Grimm or criminal? What if he's not strong enough to protect his team when they need him? All this finished with the thought of his team dying, overwhelmed due to him handicapping himself. Holding Pyrrha's bloody and beaten body as she asked him why he failed them. It was with this thought that he knew he could no longer leave Excalibur behind. "It's not about me anymore, it's about them." he told himself, a new fire in his eyes as the memory of his sister's sneer left his mind and the thought of his friends took hold.

With new conviction in his heart Jaune reached deep into his locker, his armored hand gripped around the still wrapped handle of his weapon. While he had trained with the weapon on the weekends, he would always keep his sister wrapping over the blade. The weight was still comforting, and it kept the connection between the two cut, so he wouldn't have the constant pull to the sword ringing in his mind, but soon that would change.

Pulling the blade from his locker, the writing over the wrapping slightly glowed at the proximity to the key and if one were to look at Jaune's wrist, the words his sister had placed there would start to appear. The actual ink had washed away weeks ago, but the words were still written into his skin by aura, the key ready to be used to release the blade from its hold.

Before he could unlock it, the speakers overhead called for all student to start making their way to the landing pads. As the teams moved out Jaune moved to join his own team, but a though came to his head as he called out the them.

"Hey Nora, Ren, can you two go on ahead? I need to tell Pyrrha something really quick." He asked the pair, at first, they didn't want to but when Ren saw the fire in Jaune's eye he quickly pulled the hyperactive member of the team along, knowing Jaune was going to finally repair his friendship with the champion.

Now alone the pair stood in awkward silence, the tow had not spoken in days and it was hard to confront each other again. Pyrrha was the first to try and apologize.

"Jaune, I-" Pyrrha began.

"I'm Sorry." She was cut off as Jaune bowed toward the girl, shocked into silence she watched as he apologized profusely for his actions. "I'm so Sorry Pyrrha, for everything, for lying to you, for holding you and the others back, for holding myself back and for the way I've been acting this week. I was so ashamed of what I did that I couldn't face you, I was scared that I had ruined the friendship we had. And I promise from now on I'll not only be a better friend but the leader and partner you deserve." He finished, still bowing to her.

Pyrrha was not expecting Jaune to apologize so much to her. She was sure that was her thing, but to hear that he didn't hate her for what she said brought a smile to her face, she didn't want him to be the only one the blame. "It's ok Jaune. I said some mean things on the roof that night and I feel ashamed I let my emotions take over. I should be the one to apologize, I hurt your feelings and I'm sorry for that." She told him bowing herself.

Jaune rose quick and shock his head in disagreement, "No you were right to say those things, it was stupid of me to act that way and you were right to call me out on it." he started getting her to look at him, his eyes were full of regret as he continued. "What if something happens and I can't help, or I get in the way? What if I'm not strong enough to protect my team, my friends or you when you need me most? I can't let that happen and that's why…" he tapered off as he tapped the handle of the new sword at on the opposite hip to Crocea Mors, due to listening to him Pyrrha had never noticed the extra sword he was carrying now that she noticed she gasped as she understood what it was.

"Is that?"

"Yep, I always had it in my locker if I need it and I would sneak off to train with it, so I wouldn't get rusty. But I think it wouldn't hurt to have it a little more in arms reach form now on." He stated getting a bright smile from Pyrrha that he returned, "you never know when I might need it, right?"

Overcome with joy Pyrrha quickly latched herself onto the blonde in a hug, "Oh I'm so happy for you Jaune." She cried with a laugh, Jaune laughed himself as she hugged her back, "I am to Pyrrha, it's nice to have it back on my person." He stated as they broke the hug smiling to one another as they locked eyes, "Don't think you off the hook mister, you've got a lot to make up for." Pyrrha told him with a stern expression. While happy he has finally opened up, he still lied to her and that would require some form of punishment." Jaune could only smile in return, "Anything to make it up to you, and the other as well when I tell them." He told her back getting her smile to return, they both noted how much brighter the others seemed to be and it took a minute to stop themselves from staring. Blushing slightly, they laughed together once more before rushing off to the landing pad, they still had a field trip to go on after all.

* * *

The Forever Fall, a lush Forest where the grass and trees are not the common green that you would expect from the natures rebirthing season of spring, but are that of vivid crimson red. No one really knows why this patch of land took on the red coloring, some say a natural mineral in the ground native to the forest cause the red coloring, those with more morbid minds believe it was the sight of a great battle and that the land was bathed in blood. At the end of the battle, the re-growing plant life had taken nourishment from the sea of blood, blooming anew but forever staining its leaves.

Currently the first-year students who had just arrived didn't much care for why the forest was red, but because if it they were treated to a sight most would find exotic. While the Forever Fall lies directly north of Vale only the train to the north travels through the region with most land travel going to the south, inland where most villages and settlements lie.

Our current group consisted of team RWBY, JNPR and CRDL with Glynda Goodwitch overseeing the three teams. When they first left beacon the twelve first year teams were split into groups of three with one a professional huntsman or huntress escorting them. The now four groups would then move off to different parts of the forest so that it would be easier for all the students to gather the required sap for their assignment.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful." Glynda began as she led the group into the forest and moving away from the landing zone. the Bullhead left the area to not draw Grimm as it would return at the designated time. "But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." She told the teens with a stern voice to emphasize her point. They were no longer within safe distance of Beacon, they only had her to rely on if things go badly and she didn't want them to mess around and end up dying on her.

She stopped to continue address the teams with a noticeable gap between CRDL and the sister teams of RWBY and JNPR. Glynda had to suppress a smirk at watching Jaune stumble around with the jars needed for the assignment. While she had noticed the new sword loosely attached at his hip, she couldn't help but want to make his life harder for taking so long and had placed him in charge of the supplies much to his dismay, that along with his small bought of motion sickness along with Ruby bugging him for information on the new weapon had already drained the poor blonde of much liveliness.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap." She told them as she held up an already full bottle of the red liquid. "However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at four o'clock. Dismissed!" she finished before setting off in hunt of any Grimm that were close by, she didn't want the foul creatures to interrupt her students in their mission and it would give her some peace and quiet.

Placing the case of empty jars down each team moved to grab one for the assignment and any extra they wanted for their own use. Team CRLD were the first to gather their own before skulking of into the red forest but not before sending the two teams a glare.

Paying no mind to the all boy team the eight friends gathered the remaining jars and set off to find their own area to gather sap. When they found a suitable location, the group went about gathering the required amount. It took a few minutes to fill each jar so even after an hour they had only just filled all eight required jars, it didn't help Nora had chugged down the first few jars after finding the sap delicious, it wasn't until they threatened her pancake privileges that she stopped causing trouble.

"Come on Jaune, can't you show me your sword?" Ruby wined once again trying to get the Arc to remove the wrapping of his sword. The two of them were standing to the side as they were currently on watch but, they had not seen a single Grimm in their time in the forest, so they were relatively relaxed and spent most of the time talking to each other.

*sigh*" I would rather not Rubes, can't you wait till were back at Beacon?" he asked getting an annoyed wine back.

"But you said after we got our jars you would show me, you promised!" she pointed out, he had indeed promised this as he was to focused on watching the stuff for Miss Goodwitch at first and was then too focused on gathering sap after that, not to mention reigning in Nora, so he had yet to remove the wrappings. He would have liked to remove them earlier on the ride over but was too busy to do so, not to mention wasn't sure if anything might happen when he did. So, he would prefer to be somewhere safe just in case, but it seems Ruby was having none of it.

"OK, fine. I'll take them off." He surrendered to his friend who cheered in excitement, their other friends also started paying attention as well. While they too had been interested in the wrapped sword, with Ruby's weapon obsessive nature they had only been able to ask a little about it like where he got it, he had only answered that, "It was something he was holding onto as he didn't feel worthy to wield it yet." That had confused them a bit but assumed it was a family thing, which kind of was true.

But before he could remove it from his waist Blake's voice called out. "JAUNE WATCH OUT!" moving on pure instinct he quickly snapped his shield into place on his arm and deployed it as he spun on his feet to cover himself and Ruby.

*SHATTER*

The sound of glass shattering on steel filled the air as Jaune moved his arm down to look at what hit him. The front of his shield was covered in sap as the remains of a jar lay at his feet. Looking around he noticed most of his friend looking at him, the crash drawing their attention to the pair. Seeing that nothing else had happened he turned back to see if Ruby was hurt at all." Hey Rubes, you ok?" he asked getting a nod in return. See she was fine he addressed his friend in what had happened. "Did one of you slip or something? If not did anyone see where it came from?" getting negatives from all round he stopped to think where it came from and given there was only one other group of people nearby with jars it was pretty clear what happened.

*buzz*

But before they could start what happen the sound of buzzing filled their eyes turned to where it was coming from a group of thumb sized bees rushing toward Jaune. While it was a bit scary, it was their bodies that caused the group to tense up.

"Rapier Wasps!" Jaune calls out snapping people out of their shock as they quickly spread out and away from the swarm. Like mentioned, Rapier Wasps are small wasp like Grimm that are native to the central forests of Sanus. while only classes as an E-rank Grimm given their small and frail size in a large group they are known to be able to kill people, even huntsmen. Those who don't know Grimm well may ask how that is given Aura protects them, but Rapier Wasps have something no other Grimm has, the ability to bypass Aura and have a poison that causes it to fail if injected. No one know how they do it or why they are the only Grimm species to have the ability, but it can prove deadly if one is stung once as not having aura means most hunters would fall.

Seeing that so many could defiantly affect them. Everyone who had with weapons started picking off the swarm but even then, the swarm seamed focused on Jaune for some reason leading to the blond to dash away from them. "CRAP, CRAP, CRAP!" he cried out, hoping not to be stung to death right as he was about to free Excalibur.

"Why are they focusing on Jaune so much?" Yang called as she watched the swarm chase Jaune, her shotgun shells to slow to hit the quick swarm.

"I don't know! But we have to help Jaune!" Ruby called as she shot into the swarm, killing a good number of them.

"It's the sap! They are drawn to sweet things, they must want Jaune's shield." Blake pointed out as she tried not to hit the blonde as he ran around the group, the Rapier Wasps on his tail.

"JAUNE! IT'S THE SHILED!" his partner called out getting his attention almost slapping himself for not remembering that piece of information. He quickly detached his shield and threw it away from himself and, much to his relief, the remaining Grimm followed stabbing into the face of the shield to suck up any of the sap they could get.

"Now I just got to get my shield back." Jaune told himself as he watches the swarm at work. He shivered slightly thinking it could have been him on the end of their stingers but was glad they followed the shield.

Hearing Jaune's words, Nora had a savage grim from on her face as she pulled her weapon, Magnhild, from her back and took aim at his shield, "Don't worry fearless leader! I got it!" she told him. Turning to see what she meant, his eyes widened as she took aim at his weapons, while in most cases they could take quite the beating. But the fire power Nora's weapon had would require him to use aura to reinforce the old weapons, so they didn't break, but he couldn't do that from 20 feet away. "Nora! Wait, if you do that then- "

*BOOM*

The sound of an explosion cut him off as Nora had already pulled the trigger, lighting up the area where his old weapons were. Smiling to herself she but her weapon away before wiping her hand with a job well done. "Like I said. Dealt with." She stated as the dust cloud dispersed. While she had indeed killed all the Rapier Wasps Crocea Mors had not come out unscathed. The shield itself was slightly mangled and had a large dent in the middle, scorch marks wiped most of the paint off. The Sword inside had not fared well as half handle had snapped off along with one of the guards. "Oops" the now pale Nora stated as she looked at the remains of Jaune's weapon.

Jaune himself moved over to the now destroyed weapons and moved to grab what remained. Picking up the shield he tried to see if it could still collapse back into a sheath, but it didn't budge. Seeing it was no use he tired removing the blade from the destroyed shield but as he used what was left to pull it didn't budge, it seemed the shield had collapsed into the blade and locked it in place. He wasn't worried about the blade itself as it was made of a rare material, but he could not free it now. "Mom is so going to kill me when she finds out about this..." he sighed out as he held the remains of his weapon. It had been with him for all his life not to mention was his great grandfather's. It was really depressing to see it destroyed over something so silly as a Rapier Wasp swarm.

"I'm so sorry Jaune, I didn't mean to destroy your weapon." The meek voice of Nora came from behind him, turning to see the usually cheerful girl so down was a bit shocking to him, it was almost wrong to see Nora in such a mood and to see her so upset caused any anger he had for the girl wash away.

Sighing out he moved closer to the girl, expecting him to lash out she closed her eyes and waited for him to hit her she didn't expect him to pat her head. Looking up to see his face she was shocked to see a small smile on his face but before she could ask, he stated talking.

"It's ok Nora, you didn't mean to brake them. Beside I was planning on hanging them up when we got back." He told her, she sighs out seeing he wasn't that mad at her and just enjoyed his head pats, she was expecting him to be furious with her but was happy he didn't lash out, but the guilt of what she had done still festered inside her and she wanted to do something to make up for her mistake.

"Jaune I- ug!" she was about to asked this of her leader but the hand on her head started to tighten. Looking up to his face again, the sweet smile was still on his face but now the feeling behind it was as horrifying as any Grimm she had seen.

"But don't think as your leader I'll let you off the hook. One month without pancakes. Am I clear?" He told her causing the fear in her eyes to widen.

"Please Sir. Jaune! Anything but that!" she begged as the hand on her head held her in a vice like grip.

"Nope." Was his simple replied as he let go casing her to wail in anguish. Ren moved over to comfort his long-time friend, while it saddened him to see her like this, it was a fair punishment for her crime so just hug the devastated girl.

The others just watch as the three members of JNPR interreacted with team RWBY and Pyrrha watching on in mild worry and amusement.

Did anyone else notice her change in nicknames?" Blake asked the four other girls who nodded in agreement.

"Who knew Sir Knight could be so scary if he wanted to." Yang pointed out with a shudder, not expecting the friendly knight to have a scary side.

"He did mention he had sisters to look after. He must have gotten it from controlling them." Wiess pointed out. She heard a sniff and turned to see Ruby teary eyed as she watches the interaction. "What's got you so emotional? Its heart-warming, but not that much." She asked her leader.

*sniff*" it so sad! That poor sword and shield, they were so young!" she cried out in sadness. Hearing it was the destruction of the weapons that had her so sad caused a tick mark to form on the heiress' head as she slapped the back of the young girl's head.

"OW!"

"That's what's got you so sad!? You dolt! Besides the weapon is over 80 years old given it was Arc's Great-grandfather's, so it didn't exactly "Die young"!" she told the red themed reaper, but this just stated one of the twos arguments about the importance of weapons.

Pyrrha was the one not focused on her team as she had her eyes locked in the ridge above them where laugher could be heard. "Cardin." she hissed out getting everyone's attention, hearing his name caused almost everyone to adopt a similar look as they suspected the ginger bully for throwing the jar that had led to the weapons fate.

Pyrrha was about to storm up the hill and beat the smug assholes for what they did but before she could, Jaune called out to her. "Don't bother Pyrrha, they're not worth the hassle." He told her getting shocked looks all around, but he ignored them. "It's almost time to meet up with Miss Goodwitch so let's get our stuff and head back to the meeting point." he told them much to their shock.

"But Jaune, are you sure about this?" Pyrrha asked but he simply shook his head.

"What's done is done and were still in a Grimm infested forest, it would be bad to beat the crap out of them just to draw Grimm to us." He told the group who could only agree with the blonde leader.

*ROAR!*

But it seemed all the negativity had already drawn the creatures as a roar filled the air followed by the yells of team CRDL. Soon three of the mentioned team members came scurrying out of the forest in a panic.

"Ursa! Ursa!" the one with a mohawk cried out, Russel if they remembered correct. As they moved to run passed the shocked group Jaune noticed the largest and leader of the team wasn't with them. Grabbing Russel before he passed, he locked eyes with the frightened boy. "Where's Cardin!?" Jaune demanded. In his fearful state Russel didn't want to argue as he pointed back to where they came before breaking free and running after his teammates.

"It seems Team CRDL are not as loyal to each other as one would think." Ren pointed out as they watch the scared team run away and abandon their leader.

"No surprise they had no backbone." Weiss scoffed out dismissing them.

"What should he do now?" Yang asked wonder if they would follow them or go kill whatever Grimm had shown up.

"I say we just leave the bigot to his fate." Blake coldly stated not at all motivate to save the Faunus hater.

"While Cardin is not a pleasant individual, it is not our place to pick who lives and dies." Ren countered getting a slight glare from the hidden Faunus but even she couldn't argue with him.

While the group discussed what to do, Pyrrha was listening to everyone go back and forth about if they should go, but as she turned to ask Jaune what to do as he was her leader, she was surprised to see him missing. "Wait! Where's Jaune?!" she asked everyone who also didn't notice the blonde knight slip away.

"Yeah, where is Fearless Leader?" Nora asked as well looking around the area.

"You don't think he made a run for it?" Weiss questioned but that got her a few glares. She put her hand up in surrender at all the stares. "OK, not that, so what then?" just then another roar tore through the air causing the Groups head to snap in the direction of the noise. It slowly dawned in the group where the blonde leader went.

"No…" said Pyrrha

"He didn't…" said Weiss

"He probably did." Said Ruby

Quickly realizing the situation Pyrrha told Ren and Nora to find Goodwitch before sprinting off to find her partner with Weiss and Ruby soon following behind, she just hopped nothing bad happened.

* * *

Cardin was at first having a good day, with this field trip it gave him the perfect opportunity to get back at that Arc bastard. He and been planning all week for today having gone out with his team to gather a nice box full of Rapier Wasps to unleash on the little shit when he got the sap, the Grimm bugs would be all over him. When it came time for the plan it had almost failed, thanks to the stupid bow headed bitch calling out the danger, but instead of dodging, he had blocked to protect little red hooded girl from the jar getting it on his shield. While not ideal, they still released the swarm and had a laugh at watching Jaune run around like a chicken. But it didn't last long as they figured out what the small Grimm were after. He thought that would be the end of it, a nice humiliating chase, but then the walking disaster known as Nora had gone and destroyed his weapons in an attempted to rid them of the bugs! This had set him off into a fit of laughter, how dumb did she have to be to launch high explosives at something like a simple shield? It was at this point his team moved away from the crime scene as to not arouse suspicion, the day had turned out great!

It was then while laughing with his team a large body lumbered out of the tree line. It seemed the negativity they caused drew the Grimm to the area and it wasn't just any Grimm but an Ursa Major, a clear C-Class Grimm and one most first years were not equipped to take down. His team knew this, in the next instant they had instantly started running away.

Cardin couldn't understand this, they were all high ranked first years, they would have no problem killing the Grimm! But in his arrogance and distracted state as he yelled to his fleeing team mates, the Ursa had charged and swung at the leader. Only having a moment to clumsily block, he avoided most of the damage but was left defenseless as his weapon flew from his hand. He was not at the mercy of the large bear Grimm as hit roared in his face, making sure to install as much fear as possible before finishing him.

But just as his fear peaked a blur of blue slammed into the Ursa's face. It took him a moment to understand what it was but when he finally registers what it was, he was both shocked and angry.

Jaune Arc with his Aura glowing around him had a new sword that appeared to be wrapped up lodged deep into the Ursa's face. Jaune himself was slightly crouched with his feet on its large shoulder as he must have jumped to plunge the blade into its head. Grunting in effort he used his position to slowly draw the sword out of the Grimm's skull. When it was free, he hopped to the ground with the Grimm falling forward before the cowering Cardin before slowly evaporating.

While Jaune could safely say he hated Cardin as much as he believed he did himself, he had spent his whole life wanting to be a hero, wanting to slay Grimm and protect people. So, when the news of Cardin being in danger reached his ear, it was a no brainer what he would do. He rushed to the bully's rescue, no thought of his feeing toward his enemy, just that someone needed help. He turned to look at his sworn enemy and did the one thing he could think to do.

"You ok?" he asked the shocked bully but while most would show gratitude to someone that saved them, all Cardin could feel was burning rage. He had been saved, something that would wound his pride no matter who it was that did it, but the fact it was the blonde knight that was the one who saved him, someone he heated with all his heart caused his anger to skyrocket.

"THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING ARC!" he bellowed shocking the Arc into steeping back. Quickly rising to his feet, he staked closer to the smaller boy, his face red with rage as he glared down at his "savior".

Put off by the bully's response he glared back and pointed towards the now small remains of the now dead Grimm before answering, "What was I doing? I was saving your life that's what! You got a problem with that?"

"Yes, I do since I didn't need your stupid help, not now, not ever." He told Jaune with a growl but Jaune was not one to back down to someone like Cardin.

"Well its sure look likes you did, cowering on the ground." Retorted Jaune with his own glare.

"What was that Arc? Want to run that by me again." He whispered, daring him to repeat what he said.

"I don't think I have to." He answered back, not wanting to follow his demands as the two squared off, just as they were about to start a more physical fight someone braking their concentration.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING!" a streak stopped the two's argument as they tuned to see Pyrrha, Ruby and the originator of the voice Weiss, moving towards the two leaders. "what happed here? Where's the Grimm?" she demanded them to explain.

"I already killed the Grimm, but Cardin here didn't appreciate my help." Jaune told them with Cardin gritting his teeth in anger.

"I SAID I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" he roared but this only brought glares form the girls towards him.

"How could you say that? He just saved your live and you don't even thank him?" Pyrrha questioned her own anger rising due to his attitude and how she had finally had enough of it. "How much of a terrible person can you be to not thank someone for help."

"Back off Nikos or I'll prove that title of yours wrong." He growled back but this only caused her anger to be one of cold fury instead of hot anger.

With her own glare she took is treat and through it back at his face, "I'd like to see you try Winchester." She coldly replied but the heated glare showed she was just as ready to throw down

Weiss just scoffed at Cardin's treat towards Pyrrha, "Don't bother Pyrrha, it would only be a waste of time. We all know he wouldn't last a second against you and even his pea brain should understand that. His just to angry and stupid to realize his mistake." She commented drawing Cardin's glare on her.

"Watch your mouth princess, or I'll make it so you have to be sent back to daddy with a medical bill." He threated getting Weiss' own pale skin to glow red with anger.

"What was that you brute?!" she yelled getting into a shouting match with Cardin with Pyrrha and Jaune joining her in yelling at Cardin who was just as loud as them.

The only one not in the yelling match was Ruby who had been observing the whole debate. While she too wanted to voice her displeasure at the bully, she had quickly noticed how heated everyone was getting and that if this went on, they would only draw more Grimm to themselves. "GUYS! We have to stop fighting and calm down or else Grimm will start showing up again!" she called out but sadly this only got Cardin to snap at her as well.

"Shut it girly, or else I'll sent you crying to mommy!" he snarled not knowing how hard those words would hit the poor young girl.

"Hey! don't go yelling at her!" Pyrrha yelled back once again starting the debate up again. Ruby had gone quite at Cardin's words, it had hurt to hear him say that given her mother had died years ago and was now remined of that fact.

As the arguing continued Jaune was the first to notice Ruby's silence and turned around to see what was wrong. "Ruby are you ok- "his words died in his mouth as he tuned to see a large black mass standing behind Ruby. "RUBY!" he cried as he shot toward the unsuspecting girl.

I happened in an instant that was quite familiar to Ruby as it was quite like what happed in initiation only this time, she wasn't prepared for it and neither was anyone else. Jaune had pushed the girl to the floor as he brought his blade up to block, his aura flaring to protect him, however unlike in initiation he didn't have a shield to better hide behind and didn't have as much time to fortify not only his position but his aura.

*CRASH*

With the sound of flesh on metal Jaune was sent flying across the clearing, his back slamming into one of the large red trees.

"AAAA!" his scream of pain drew the arguing member attention as they turned to see what happened. Their red faces quickly paled at what now stood in front of them. Ruby who had been pushed to the floor looked up to see what happened, but her head kept moving up until they locked with crimson red eyes that were full of malis and hate.

Stood on two back legs and two large arms in front but still towering well over ten feet tall, white armor plates scatted across its body was a Grimm none of them ever wanted to face, at least for a few more years. A Beringel, an ape like Grim said to be one of the most powerful Grimm for any huntsmen to face, and it wasn't an infant variant but a full adult which placed it in the B-Class of Grimm, one way above their skill level.

*ROAR!* it roared as it slammed its fists onto its chest in triumph at eliminating one of the humans in front of itself, but it quickly set its sights on the small one at its feet. It brought its fists together and quickly brought them down on the terrified girl.

*SMASH*

Its first great a crater but there was no body under its fists but a trail of rose petals moving away from where its fists landed. Ruby while scared out of her mind was able to understand her position and activate her semblance barely dodging the hammer fists as she stood next to the other Beacon Students who watch it lock eyes on them. It was then that they understood what had happed, eyes widening they looked to see were Jaune was sent.

"JAUNE!" Pyrrha cried seeing her partner lying in front of a dented tree not moving at all. 'no, no, NO!' she cried in her mind thinking the worst had happened. This thought prosses was once shared by those around her and it was at this instance that the Grimm struck as it leaped with a roar knocking them out of their thought. Jumping back away from its landing zone they all mostly avoided any damage, Cardin was the only one to get hit by anything as the shockwave launched him back due to his lower speed, luckily for him he landed his weapon, grabbing it he stood to face the Grimm with Pyrrha to his left and the White Rose pair to his right.

"How are we going to beat this thing?!" he cried, not being able to hide his fear against the large Grimm. The others weren't doing much better, also being afraid but also being worried for Jaune's condition. They had been so absorbed in their fight they didn't even notice the Grimm sneak up on them, and it had cost Jaune as he'd been the only one to notice, saving Ruby in the prosses but ending up out of the fight.

"We have to bring it down! There's no way we could outrun it with Jaune being injured!" Ruby called out getting nod from her friends. Cardin however had other plans.

"WHAT? Forget Arc, he's most likely dead from that hit and if he isn't, we should just use him as bait and escape!" he called out getting shocked look all around, they couldn't believe someone who wanted to be a huntsman could be so self-serving as to sacrifice someone else so they could live.

Before they could call their disagreements the Beringel moved once more, its target however was Cardin, much to his horror. The Grimm had noticed he was the slowest of the bunch and that made him the easiest target, his armor being no problem against its vast physical strength, so it charged toward the terrified ginger.

As it brought its first up to smash down on Cardin, he was just quick enough to knock the blow to the side and not get hit. The devastating hit still caused the ground to rock, making lose his balance, a fatal mistake as its other first came flying towards his body. Being unable to dodge he brought his mace up and flooded it with his Aura, praying to survive. The fist slammed into the shaft of his mace bending inwards but it did its job of protecting him. It didn't however stop the law of physics from doing its work as he, like Jaune was sent flying backwards and slamming his back in a tree but with all his aura focused in his arms and weapon to block, he was knocked out cold leaving the three huntresses in training to fight the Beringel alone.

Seeing how easily Cardin was eliminated it was clear they didn't want to get hit at all by the Grimm's large arms as it would most likely mean the instant drain of all their aura. Getting into battle ready stances, they stared down the large Grimm knowing they were in for a life or death battle.

Ruby was the first to act creating distance between herself and the Grimm with Weiss and Pyrrha moving around the Grimm to get it in the center of the three, when they were in position, they all started firing upon the Grimm in hopes of taking it down. This proved futile as most of their round bounced off its hard flesh. Seeing this they tried to think of how to hurt it, but it didn't give them much time to think as it charged toward the youngest of the group.

Quickly turning her weapon into its scythe mode, she waited for it to swing at her before using her semblance to dodge around the large Grimm, swinging at its limbs as she moved around it, hoping to either chop something off or disable it. Sadly, for her the cuts were shallow and didn't do much damage, only serving to enrage the monster more as it started flailing around in hopes of hitting its small and quick target.

As it continued to try and hit her Ruby was using her semblance as much as possible to not be hit and end up like the two males in the area. She was taking every chance she had to take swing at it whenever it was open, but she couldn't generate enough power to cut deep enough, its hide was a lost thicker then she expected.

It was after one large swing that Ruby decided to back off towards her Partner who had been unable to fire at the Grimm in worry of hitting Ruby. Noticing its pray was gone it turned to chase her but before it could do so a bronze shield slammed into its face brining its attention towards Pyrrha who charged at engage the Grimm, out of the three she was the best in close range so she was confident she would be able to stall the ape Grimm long enough for Ruby and Weiss to think of a way to defeat it or for help to arrive. Seeing another human coming toward itself, it swung wide in hopes of hitting her. But like its previous foe, it was quick on their feet.

Ducking under the arm, Pyrrha quickly stabbed her sword forward into its chest in hopes of penetrating its chest and ending the battle. Sadly, her aim was off, and she ended up hitting the bone like armor instead of black flesh. She had to dodge to the side to avoid the monsters fist coming down from above. Moving around the Grimm she swung at its sides and with the use of her semblance was able to put more force in her blows, cutting deeper then Ruby into its flesh. This angered the Grimm, but with her above average combat skills and the liberal use of her semblance she was able to duck and weave around its attacks, striking at whatever flesh presented itself, swapping between sword and spear mod to increase her distance and shorten it for when she was closer.

As the seconds passed the Grimm became more frenzied in its attacks, trying harder and harder to hit the girl. But the sound of bullets rang out as shards of ice exploded on the Grimm's body. With the use of Weiss Glyphs, she and Ruby were charging Ruby's bullets with Ice dust turning them into freezing rounds that started spreading over the Beringel's body, causing it to slow down and roar in anger. Taking this chance Pyrrha moved away from the Grimm and brought her weapon up into a throwing stance. Taking aim at its head, with the use of her semblance and the recoil of Miló's built in rifle she launched her weapon at high speed aiming to kill. The Grimm saw the spear heading towards its head and moved to dodge. While it didn't lose its life, it did however lose one of its eyes as Miló caught the left side of its face, destroying part of its mask and taking its eye along with it.

Screeching in pain it quickly broke out of its frozen cage to claw at its face in pain. It had not expected the fleshlings to be able to hurt it as they were much too young to be able to beat let alone harm it. In its pain induced stated it didn't expect a great amount of force to hit its chest and knocked it back towards the forest. In its distracted state Weiss had lay a row of speed Glyphs to give Ruby enough speed to cut through the Grimm and end its existence. Like with initiation Ruby launched herself toward the Grimm with the use of her and Weiss' semblance and massive recoil of her weapon she had swung at the large Grimm with all her might, but with all her speed, she couldn't aim her so well and ended up striking its chest and launching it back into the cover of the forest. Landing she quickly readying herself for retaliation, but nothing came, no movement and no sound. Giving it a few moments more she took a calming breath and turned to face her friends for the fight with a smile. Seeing the fight was over they too dropped their stances in relief. This would prove to be a mistake.

A bolder came flying out of the forest towards the relaxing girls. Luckily, they saw it coming and dodged, but it only served as a distraction as the Beringel came rushing out of the forest, a long red gash across its chest from where Ruby hit it, its bone armor seemed to have saved it from being split in two and was now behind Ruby. Seeing the large beast nearing, she activated her semblance to get away, but she quickly fell back as the Grimm had griped the end of her cape. Now with a strong grip on the young girl, the Grimm brought her up and slammed her small frame onto the ground causing her to scream in pain as her aura flashed across her body dangerously.

"RUBY!" Weiss cried rushing to free her leader, but this proved fatal. As she drew close, the Grimm took aim with its new weapon and swung Ruby towards the white-haired girl. Not expecting such a move, Ruby slammed into Weiss full force causing massive damage to both. Luckily the small piece of Ruby's clock it was holding ripped under the strain launching the partners away across the forest floor. As their tumble came to an end both Ruby's and Weiss' Aura shattered, leaving both girls exhausted and unable to continue.

The Grimm to a moment to bask in its victory over two more of the humans, but it still had one more to deal with and this one was the one who took its eye. Meaning it would make sure to crush it into a red stain to match the grass around them.

Pyrrha was sweating and panicking as she was left to face the B-class Grimm alone, she didn't expect it to catch them by surprise for a second time, and it had once again cost them. Now facing down the beast she could see the pure hate in its only remaining eye.

Roaring in challenge it rushed towards Pyrrha and engaged with more ferocity then it had before. Its swing was coming at Pyrrha with not only more force but more speed as well, causing her to be fully on the defensive. She dodged all around the Grimm's body, deflecting blows that got too close for comfort. but Pyrrha was starting to get pushed back and was losing steam. This was the hardest she had ever had fight as the Beringel, like all Grimm, had no metal on them for her to use. Almost everyone who fights had some form of metal on their person weather it's their weapon or a belt buckle, something with metal was almost always on a person for her to sense and manipulate, but not the Grimm.

So Pyrrha's luck ran out as she mis-planned a deflection with Miló, the strike caused her to lose her grip of the weapon as it flew out of her hand. Shocked at this event, she only just jumped in time to dodge the Beringel's next swing, but she made a grave error. In her attempted to escape she jumped up and over the swing but hadn't put too much thought in the jump, leaving her open in the air. The Grimm brought a hand up to grab her leg in a vice grip and slamming her into the ground with as much force as it could, knocking the wind out of Pyrrha and causing her to scream in pain. As Pyrrha took a moment to catch her breath the Beringel raised its arms in a hammer blow and swung down on the huntress. Unable to escape she raised Akoúo̱ and focused her aura to block the blow. Its large fists slammed down on the champion causing her to scream in pain, but she held firm. Seeing this, it repeated the action again and again, each time causing Pyrrha more and more pain. After the fifth hit Pyrrha's aura shattered, leaving her defenseless under the Grimm as it rose its arms once more.

Pyrrha knew she was going to die, there was no one around to same her and she could not survive another hit, she couldn't even move her arms, Akoúo̱ left laying on her stomach, not like it would do much. In her final moment she of course though of her Family first, how devastated and disappointed they would be to hear of her death. They had given her everything she could need to be strong but, in the end, it wasn't enough. Next was her life growing up, training none stop always be at the top, her competitive nature shining throughout all her life leading to her being a champion. But that power had led to a lonely childhood, with no real friends in her life until Beacon.

The thought of the school brought a smile to her face, all the friends she had gained despite the first few hours in the school, she was worried her loneliness would continue for all her life, but she had met people who accepted her for herself. From her friendship to the all-female team of RWBY to her own team with Ren and Nora, friendships she would have cherished all her life. Then there was Jaune, her first real friend, it's funny to think that one of the first thing she knew about him was how fit he was. That first night felt like it was a life time ago even if it's only been a month ago. The friendship the two had was something she cherished almost as much as the ones with her family, but it felt was different. She never figured out why, but it seemed that she never would as the Grimm's arms descended towards her one last time.

'It's a shame, I never got to see what his weapon looked like…'

*ROAR*

* * *

Jaune was having a bad day. It had started out alright, great in fact after his talk with Pyrrha. But ever since he came to Forever Fall, it had gone to shit. On the ride over his motion sickness had dropped by to see how he was doing, leading to an unconfutable ride over. His time in the forest was mostly peaceful, Nora's antics aside he was finally relaxed and ready to move on with his life, but then Cardin had to go and ruin it all.

Cardin, just the thought of him made his blood boil. Everything that had happened in the last 20 minutes could be blamed on Cardin and his stupid ego. It's not like he had helped him for the last mouth, but still! He couldn't wait to use Excalibur and turn him into chunks.

Speaking of Excalibur, the blade was still held tight in his grip, not wanting to let the weapon go after his unexpected flight. He had taken a heavy hit and was still recovering, his aura hard at work to remove the aching all over his body.

"Thank Oum for my monstrous aura reserves" he told himself.

The sound of fighting and yelling filled the air but the ringing in his ears stopped him for understanding what was happening and he was too weak to lift himself up to see what was happening.

It took a few more minutes of focusing his semblance on soothing his wounds before the blonde knight could move and when he finally looked up, he was horrified by what he saw. In the Grimm's had was Ruby who was being used as a club to attack Weiss. The two had soon been thrown across the field and came to a stop. He sighed in relieve to see them still moving but with their Aura's now shattered they could no longer fight, that meant...

"Pyr-rha-a." He rasped out as he turned to watch his partner face the Beringel, alone. He watches as she moved around the Grimm with grace and speed, but it was clear to see she was slowing down and that soon she would slip up. The memory of this morning played in his head when he realized, he would start using Excalibur, for a situation just like this but he was taken out at the start and unable to help, useless.

'I really am useless…'

"AAG!"

The crises of his partner snapped him out of his thought. When he looks back up, he watches in horror, as the Beringel brought its fist down on his partner, causing her to scream in pain as she used her shield to protect herself.

'No…'

*BANG*

"AAG!"

He grits his teeth as the glow of his aura moved over his body, he slowly began to rise. It hurt to move but that's the point, he could move.

*BANG*

"URG!"

'I refuse.'

He slowly got to his feet, Excalibur griped in his hands, the seal glowing along with his wrist.

'To pay that price.'

*BANG*

"AAR!"

The wrapping around the sword slowly started to burn away, the light reflecting off the now revealed metal.

*BANG*

"AAH!"

"I won't let you have them."

The glow of his Aura started to travel along the blade, it started to glow a golden color instead his normal white. His connection with the legendary blade reformed and causing him to take a deep, steady breath. It felt like taking a breath of fresh air after being suffocated for so long.

*BANG*

"AAG!"

"I WON'T LET YOU HAVE HER!"

With that cry he dashed with all his might toward the Grimm as it brought its arms down on the now auraless Pyrrha.

Arriving just above her he rose his glowing weapon up to defend against the attack, unlike last time he was reformed not only by his aura but his semblance as well, it seemed he had better control over it, but Jaune was too busy now to notice.

As the hulking fist crashed against the blade, Jaune's knee buckled under the strain and fell to a knee, but the other foot simply sunk into the ground and his arms shook as he held the Beringel back.

"Jaune?" a shocked and rasped voice asked, he looked down below him and locked is azure eyes with emerald.

"I'm sorry Pyrrha, I promised to better protect you and look what happened, I'm so sorry." He told her, but Pyrrha just smiled in return.

"It's ok, I'm sorry for getting beaten up so much, it's so embarrassing." She chuckled but it came out pained.

"Don't worry, I've got this, just rest and watch ok?" said Jaune, smiling at the red head.

"Ok"

Seeing she was going to be ok, Jaune focused more aura into his legs and slowly rose to his feet, the Beringel still pushing against him but Jaune was in no mood to back down. Locking eyes or eye in its case with the Grimm he gave it his most powerful glare ever.

"Round two asshole." He told the Grimm his eyes flashing gold for a second before turning back to a glowing blue with his aura surrounding his body.

*ROAR*

The Grimm just roared in his face, but he used this to his advantage. As it did its intimidation tactic Jaune put more force into his push cause the Grimm to stop roaring and stubble back. In its stumble Jaune lashed out with his sword, using a two-handed style instead of the one-handed style he used with Crocea Mors. His blade flashed across the beast's chest, moving across where Ruby had hit it earlier and like hers, he cut deep across its chest creating a cross paten over its chest.

Roaring in pain as it stumbled further back, not expecting him to be able to cut through his hide so easily but as the Grimm took a closer look at the being in front of it, it noticed its soul slowly grow brighter with every passing second. It was getting stronger and it would not allow such a strong soul bearer to live.

Roaring in challenge the Beringel started swinging wildly at Jaune but he easily avoided the wide blows, moving completely different than before. Ruby and Weiss along with Pyrrha watch in awe and Jaune moved both smoothly and sharply around the Grimm's attacks, they couldn't believe this was the same guy that struggled with a simple sword and shield stance was now effortlessly dodging around a B-class Grimm, it was like something out of a fairy tale or comic book. The hero appearing just in the nick of time to crush the enemy.

The Beringel was not as impressed with Jaune's new skills but was angrier with them. It was getting further away from hitting him, all the while his soul grew and grew. It was about to try something else but searing pain filled its body as Jaune once again cut into the beast.

Jaune had only been causing shallow cuts so far and had yet to do any major damage since his first cut but as time passed the Grimm grew slower and slower. After a while it was clear he could out speed the beast and began to go on the offensive.

Dodging its next right swing he griped Excalibur tightly and swung up, focusing his aura into the blade to increase its sharpness, in doing so the Grimm's right arms was cut clean off causing it to recoil in pain. Seeing it distracted he rushed forward cutting into its body and legs, causing red lines to appear all over its body as it tried to use its remaining arm to defend and attack, but it had little to no luck.

Stepping back to see what he had done the Beringel was coved in red lines from were Excalibur had easily cut into its flesh, even the bone plates on its body didn't stand up to the aura enhanced blade. It was clear to all that the Grimm was on its last legs, but it wasn't going to stop till it killed the man if front of it.

Roaring one final time it went for a large haymaker with its remaining arm with all the power it had left, hoping to turn him to a bloody pulp but it was still to slow as Jaune jumped over the punch letting it harmlessly pass under him. While the action did appear to follow what his partner had done to escape and failed, Jaune's was slightly different, but it made a massive difference. When he had jumped, he aimed himself to the Beringel left side where it was missing an eye, its blind spot.

With no way to see Jaune it was unable to grab him or react when Jaune spun mid-air and brought his blade across the Grimm's neck, removing its head form its body. Landing in a crouch Jaune rose to his feet and turned to see the large body of the Beringel crash into the ground and start dissolving. Its decapitated head lay a few feet away but was quick to dissolve into the black mist like all Grimm did.

Silence filled the air as Jaune started to slowly calm down, the aura around him slowly reseeding. In that moment Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha could only watch in stunned silence at what the Knight had done. No words could form in their heads to convey their thoughts on what had just happened. Well except one.

"Whoa" they said in unison

Just then Miss Goodwitch burst into the field, her whip raised and ready to deal with any Grimm that were brining harm to her student. She had picked up speed when Ruby and Weiss's Aura had hit zero with Pyrrha soon following. She had feared something had happened and booked it as fast as she could to their Scroll signals. But as she surveyed the area, she was horrified and shocked to see the slowly dissolving body of a Beringel with Weiss, Ruby and Pyrrha either lying or sitting on the ground, staring gob smacked at Jaune who stood there, the clear sights of his semblance having been used. The thing that caught her eyes the most was the new sword in his hands, one she had never seen before but then it clicked at what it was, and a small smile grazed her face.

Noticing the arrival of his teacher he smiled at her before calling out. "Hey Miss Goodwitch! Have I got a story for- *Urg*!" Before he could finish, he crumpled to the ground causing those around him to yell in shock. "*URG* EVERYTHING HURTS!" he cried as he lied on his back, groining in pain.

Glynda quickly moved to check over the blonde leader before signing in both relief and annoyance. "It appears you are suffering from both physical and Aura exhaustion. You must have pushed your semblance well beyond what your body could handle and what your aura could supply" she told the groaning blonde,

"So that's why it was so easy to overpower the Beringel, I'll have to work on that. This. Really. Hurts." He groaned out twitching from time to time in pain. Glynda just rolled her eyes at his belly aching.

"So that's Excalibur?" Glynda suddenly asked getting his attention, his eyes drifting to the blade that had not left his had side. A smile made its way to his face as he painfully raised the blade to give her and himself a better look at the sword.

"Yeah, it is." He told her the smile on his face ever growing.

"…. I'm proud of you, Jaune." She quietly told him, her own smile showing on her face.

"Thanks, Miss Glynn." He returned, he was no longer held back by his past and the false pride he clung to.

It was time to move forwards and not worry about the past. But even the past has a way of catching up with us.

* * *

(Haven Academy)

A female dressed in the black student uniform moved through the Haven dorm halls, the only addition to her uniform the vail covering her face. It took her a few minutes to reach a room before she swiping her scroll across the pad to let herself in. Inside were three more people who could be seen sitting around the room, All three of them were males.

One was sitting at his desk quietly reading a book about medicine, the next was on his bed cleaning his weapon, a revolver, and the last was simply looking out the window, an old photo held in his hand.

"We have been chosen to participate in the Vytal Festival." The girl said aloud drawing the attention of the room's occupants.

The one at his desk flinched slightly before quickly relaxing, he removed his classes before a dangerous, fang filled smirk made its way onto his face.

The one cleaning his gun snapped the cylinder shut before spinning the chamber, nodding at a job well done with his own cocky smirk.

"I see…" the one with a photo said as he looked down at the old picture. It was one of them from their childhood but it held 5 people and not 4. In the middle of the photo was the smiling face of an old friend of theirs. It used to make him want to smile in return, now that smile just brought him anger and resentment.

"We'll be seeing you soon, Jaune."

Xxx

 **And done, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and that it finally gave you all what you wanted. I'd hope so given its nearly 17k words long. And to think I wanted this and last chapter to be one chapter, HA.**

 **When this chapter goes up it will be Christmas so HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all those reading this chapter. I hope you all are having a wonderful time with family and friends and get all the best things!**

 **The resent episodes of RWBY have all been great and the Apathy is by far the best Grimm species to appear, it was the first time I felt fear for the main cast and it was great. I hope more Grimm like this show up in the future of Canon and that they don't mess up the roll their on, fingers crossed.**

 **I'm going to be taking a few weeks off before starting the next chapter as the next few weeks will be spent with family and friends, so it won't be until the new year until I start writing the next chapter so expect that to come in the latter half of January!**

 **Now for questions!**

 **I found it quite funny with some of the criticize in the last chapter's comments, when I finished this chapter and when to answer questions for the end of this chapter, most were about things I already answered with this chapter, with a few that will be answered in the next.**

 **Blackholelord-** A great direction to take the story but to go so long with him fighting the urge to use Excalibur would be hard to write. I only had to do it for 5 chapter and that was both hard and stressful with people demanding to see the weapon and wanting it to fit in the story. You would need a much better writer if you wanted to take the plot point so far into the story, but still it would be an interesting read to see his struggles.

 **HollowSeven** – I how this chapter addressed some of the issues you had. I know I have a problem with moving away from canon but I'm working to fix that with this chapter and later chapters. The next chapter is a fully original chapter that will be building JNPR's relationship as well as look into what's happening behind the scenes so look forward to that.

 **Shidou Haruka-** Don't worry more Fate element will be showing up in the story as it moves along mainly with character being introduced so look forward to that. As for having both Ruby and Pyrrha date Jaune it was something I thought of doing and started planning to do so but when I got the idea for the post Vol 3 story a three-way relationship would not work so I went with what I thought was best. It's going to be a while before they get together but the ground work will start being placed soon so look forward to that.

 **Gen2324-** not many people are, it's just a part of Jaune's story that I can't just skip it, I hoped the changes if made make you happy but if not I'm sorry to disappoint you.

 **There were more questions, but most were around the same as the ones above and I would just be repeating myself so if I didn't mention you it's because I read you after the ones above and they were asking the same questions.**

 **And with that I wish you all a happy holiday and a Happy New Year, till 2019.**

 **Regards, Malluk.**


	7. Chapter 7 - Forever Fall Fallout

**Hey, Malluk here with chapter 7 of Knight of Hunters!**

 **I hope you all had a good holiday and start to 2019, It took a few weeks to get back in the groove and get started but hears the first chapter of the year, hope you enjoy!**

 **RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay night is property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting, only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Pease support the original products.**

 **Edited by: M.H. Pintner**

* * *

Chapter 7

 _Forever Fall Fallout_

The hum of the engine was the only noise in the quite bulkhead as Team JNPR, RWBY, CRDL, and Professor Goodwitch sat in silence as they made their way back to Beacon, the only two not conscious were Jaune and Cardin. The latter still unconscious from hitting his head on a tree, his aura had not been broken so it had already healed the damage but it would be a few hours before he awoke. Jaune, on the other hand, had fallen unconscious soon after his interaction with Glynda, finally succumbing to his injuries and passed out.

His friends were worried for the blonde knight, but after Miss Goodwitch eased their worries by explained that he was only unconscious calming them down. With Jaune seemingly out of danger they now their focus was on the new weapon Ruby had in her hands. The destroyed remains of Crocea Mors sat next to Ren who had retrieved it before boarding the Bullhead.

For Ren, Nora, Yang, and Blake they had not witnessed Jaune use the new weapon and were as such, curious as to how he wielded it. But for the three who had seen it, they were still trying to understand what had happened.

For Weiss, she was trying to understand how Jaune was able to move so fluidly with this new sword as compared to all the times she had seen him use Crocea Mors. He always moved stiffly and uncomfortably with his now destroyed weapons, but when that wired paper burned off his new sword his movements were almost perfect in the small glimpses.

Miss Goodwitch explained that the reason he was now unconscious is due to pushing his semblance to far and was now suffering from Aura Exhaustion, much like when someone pulls a muscle, Jaune had pushed his Aura too far and ended up hurting himself in the prosses. While doing such a thing is extremely stupid and reckless, if he had not done it then the Beringel would have most likely killed them. Something she was thankful for, but it still didn't explain his sudden increase in skill with his new sword, and she planned to ask him when he woke up.

For Ruby, she too was shocked at what Jaune had done but was more interested in the new sword that she was currently holding. She was anxious for her fellow leader, but she knew she couldn't do much for him now, but she did have many questions running through her mind about both him and the sword.

She wanted to deeply study the blade, but she couldn't concentrate given her worry for the blonde leader. But from what she could take from looking at the sword she found that it was a masterpiece. While the sword was quite basic compared to most modern weapons, her Crescent Rose being an example, the sword was perfect in every single way, the balance was on point, and the forging was perfect. It felt heavy enough to do damage but light enough to swing quickly and was all around a piece of art in her mind. She was drooling at the thought of learning how such a weapon was forged and if such a mastery of weapon making could be used on her own weapon, but she would have to wait for Jaune to wake up to ask him about it.

Lastly and the most worried was Pyrrha who was the most focused on Jaune, being the one to watch over him like a hawk. Every breath he took, every grimace of pain she made a note of as the redhead tried to comfort her leader in his sleep. Pyrrha could only think about how she had let him down as she replayed the fight over in his head along with her action that lead up to the battle, how she was too busy arguing to noticed the Beringel sneaking up on them and Jaune had paid the price. Part of her blamed herself for not seeing it but was also angry with Cardin at the time and with Jaune seemingly incapacitated she was distracted during the fight itself. Her worry for her leader only grew, and she and the others struggled to match the terrifying Grimm, she had not been 100% focused.

'Not like that would have helped, I was totally crushed by that thing' She told herself as she replayed the end of the fight to herself. It was clear that even if she were fighting at her best, she still would have lost to the Beringel. The beast was both too fast and strong for her to match and without any metal to use her semblance on, her skills while much higher then her age group were still not enough to match up to the high-ranking Grimm.

While she did somewhat blame herself, she could only think of one person who all the trip's problems could be placed on. The thought of him brought burning anger to the champion's heart, and that blame was on Cardin Winchester. From the destruction of Crocea Mors to the Grimm being lured to the area due to their negativity could all be traced back to the self-centered bully and his team. She shot a quick glare to the other end of the Bullhead where Cardin's teammate watched over their leader with worried expressions, but she could only scoff at their worry over him.

'You didn't seem to care about his safety when the Ursa showed up, Cowards.' She commented to herself, she had watched as the three members of CRDL and ran past their group in a panic with their tails between their legs. 'It was Jaune who went to help, and all he got in returned was Cardin's anger and a Grimm's fist.' she sighed sadly looking down at her leader whose head was placed in her lap, softly stroking his hair in hopes of comforting him.

The silence was broken when Yang, who had been comforting her sister as the trip went on, she like most had also been looking at his new sword, her curiosity over Jaune's new weapon finally won out, and she wanted to see if anyone else knew anything about it. "So, does anyone else know where Jaune got his new sword from? Cause I've only ever seen and heard about it today." She asked aloud getting everyone's attention. While everyone tried to think of a time Jaune may have mentioned the mystery sword, only two people knew anything about it. Pyrrha who had just heard a few things about it from her and Jaune's talks from last week and that morning and Miss Goodwitch who knew most everything about it but kept her mouth shut. She was too focused on her scroll as she messaged ahead for a medical team to be ready when they arrived, but she did perk up when Excalibur was mentioned.

"Now that you mention it, I can't remember Jaune ever talking about having another weapon," Blake commented form next to her partner, and the other as well couldn't think of a time he mentioned getting another weapon

Ren was the next to speak up and be gestured to his teammates "We have talked to him about getting a replacement weapon, but Jaune usually brushed it off. But seeing him with another one he never mentioned and the fact he got another sword is strange given how much trouble Jaune has-, had with Crocea Mors. You would think he would swap to something else." he stated, and the others could only agree that if at some point Jaune did get another weapon why get one similar to the one he was having trouble with? It made no sense.

"Urg I can't take it! I want to know!" Nora wined out, wanting to know how her fearless leader had another sword without them knowing and why he kept it from them. She wanted to shake him awake and demand answers but knew both Pyrrha and Miss Goodwitch would be unpleased with such actions. "That's it!" she suddenly cried making everyone jumps at her sudden cry, a huge smile placed on her face as she explained her theory. "If Jaune-Jaune didn't go and get a new sword then he must have already had it." She told them, the other thought about it but didn't see why that was important.

"While that is most likely the case, it still doesn't help us know anything about it," Weiss added, seemingly crushing any excitement at Nora's revelation but when Nora just shook her head, her smile growing on her face. It seamed Weiss had jumped the gun.

"But it does! If Jaune already had the sword, then he had to have it before Beacon! And there's someone here who knows Fearless Leader before he came here!" she told them, and it finally clicked as all their heads turned towards Miss Goodwitch, their teacher and Jaune's former baby sitter.

Feeling the eyes of her student on her Glynda finished what she was doing on her scroll and turned to face them with a sigh, it appeared that Jaune had mentioned their past relations, but that didn't surprise her. When she looked at their eager faces, she felt she could give them some answers but knew it was Jaune's story to tell. "Yes, students?"

At first, no one spoke, a bit scared to bring up such personal matter with their strict teacher but one of them pulled up the courage to ask her.

"Umm its just, Jaune mentioned you used to look after him when he was a kid, and we were wondering if you he always had this sword?" Ruby asked holding the blade out to the teacher.

Glynda took the sword from the young leader and gave it a quick scan before looking back up to her students. "Sadly, during the time I was Mr. Arc's babysitter he never had this sword with him, he was around six years old when I left to start Beacon and he only ever had Crocea Mors." She told them shooting Nora a glare, and she hid behind the remains of the weapons and gave off a quick sorry as she cowered in fear at her glare. Eventually, Glynda could only sigh in annoyance and think of how angry Jaune's Farther was going to be when he learns of its destruction.

Hearing Jaune didn't have the sword in his youth caused the group to groan in sadness, they had hoped Miss Goodwitch had seen him get the weapon, but it appeared she knew nothing of the sword.

"I do however know what the sword is and where it came from," Glynda added causing them to perk up in excitement. Seeing this she sighed once again, something she expects to do a lot with this group but ignored her growing dread for now and focused on their curiosity. "While I know about this, I will not be giving you all the answers. I believe its Jaune's story to tell. However I can give you all some information for now as it will be a few days until Jaune awakens from his recovery." She told them, while they wanted to know everything, they understood that she didn't want to break any trust between her and their blonde friend, but the mention of his recovery time did cause a slight panic to pass over them, but she was quick to clarify. "Don't be too alarmed students, its natural for those suffering from Aura Exhaustion to take a few days to rest and recover. It will most likely be a week before Jaune is back to normal, so expect to not see him in class for a while."

Hearing he was going to be fine relived them of most of their worry and once again they focused on the discussion at hand. Glynda gave them a few moments to gather themselves before giving them the answers she could.

"While in his youth Jaune only ever had Crocea Mors, the fact he was in possession of this sword can be seen as very important in the eyes of the Arc family." She said getting some confused looks, but she continued, "you see in the Arc Family all the weapons in the family are passed down and are very important, this one is most likely the most important."

"Why is that?" Weiss asked. She knew the Arc family was one of the oldest and well-known families on Remnant but didn't see why this sword was so important.

"While I can't go into too much detail about the importance of weapon's in the Arc family as its something of a family secret, what I can tell you is this sword is one of the oldest in the family and was wielded by the first Arc." She told the group. They were shocked to hear the seemingly brand-new weapon was older than all of them combined and multiple times over.

"How's that possible?! If the sword were that old, it would be coved in age and rust!" Ruby called out, she had a good look at the sword and suspect today to be its first use, not its thousandth use.

"Again, that is something I can't tell you, but when I first saw Jaune at the launch pads, I was truly shocked to see him." She told them, hearing this confused them slightly.

"Why was that?" Ren asked confused as to why she would not have expected to see him if he had been trained since a young age.

"Well that's due to- "she was cut off as a groan came from down the ship. Turning to see where the noise came from, at the other end of the hold Cardin was the one the moan out as he sat up rubbing his head in pain, it seemed he had finally come to and was now looking around to see where he was.

"Urg my head," Cardin said as his teammate helped him to a sitting position. "What happened?" he asked, looking around he guessed he was in bullhead with his team surrounding him. A pissed off look came over his face as he glared at his teammates. "Where the hell did you three run off too?! You left me to face that damn Ursa alone!" he yelled at his teammates who could only cower at their leaders' anger. "I almost died cause of you guys!" he finished in anger but hearing Cardin talk about his conflict with the Grimm brought rage to the group as they remember that this was all his fault and that Jaune was currently injured due to his actions.

"You would have if Jaune hadn't saved you!" Ruby yelled in anger brining Cardin's attention to the younger leader and her friends who were all glaring at him.

Seeing their glares, he returned them with his own, "What the hell are you talking about girly?" he hissed out, not wanting people to know Arc had to save him.

"What my leader is trying to say is if Jaune hadn't shown up you would have been Grimm chow," Weiss spoke to him like she was talking to a child that couldn't understand a basic fact. This angered Cardin more as he argued back.

"I could have beat it myself. Arc just showed up and hit it while I was distracting it, taking all the glory for himself." He shot back, but everyone knew he was just trying to inflate his ego.

"We all know that's not what happened, but it still doesn't change the fact that even when Jaune saved you, you still couldn't let your ego go and started arguing with him which lead to the Beringel coming after us. It also led to Jaune becoming greatly injured" Pyrrha angrily stated. The mention of the gorilla Grimm jogged Cardin's memory as he remembers why he was knocked out in the first place and how Arc had been eliminated.

"So Jauney-boy was alive after taking that hit for Little Red, should have just let her take it," he scoffed causing the groups anger to rise.

"Not like you lasted much longer, you were taken out in seconds, not to mention wanted to use Jaune as a distraction to run away!" Ruby hissed out shocking those that weren't there.

"WHAT!? YOU BASTARD!" Nora cried with rage and tried to launch herself at Cardin, she would have if Ren had not grabbed her. While he really wanted to let his best friend go to destroy Cardin, he knew the small space and Nora's anger would mean the Bullhead would crash, it's the only reason he was holding her back. The others weren't much better, as both Yang and Blake growled and hissed in anger respectively at hearing he wanted to sacrifice Jaune to save his own hide.

The only one not to make a noise was Glynda, while she was just as angry as her students, she had noticed Cardin had not seen her and saw this as an opportunity. When the debate had first started, she had discreetly started recording the argument as she could use it later for accounts of what happened. But given Ruby's accusation, if it proves true, it could be used to remove Cardin from Beacon. This with past incidents involving the man in question could be just what she needed.

Hearing this Cardin only scoffed at her anger and rolled his eyes "It was the most logical choice at the time, there was no way we could beat a Grimm like that, and it was better to lose one mediocre Hunter in training than all of us." He told them, fully believing he was right in suggesting such a thing. This statement only added to their anger as Ren had to try harder to hold Nora down but was not putting up much of a fight to do so.

Ignoring their anger, he scoffed again, not knowing he had just given Glynda precisely what she needed to remove the boy from Beacon and provided the account about his teammates leaving him. They too may face expulsion as Beacon had no place or time for those that could not stand with their teammates.

"Not like it matters, we're all still alive including the fool. I'm Sure Miss Witch got there in time to save us, including him." He said aloud, removing the start of Glynda's last name to insult her. Something that finally made her break her silence.

"That's Miss GOODwitch, Mr. Winchester, but given your lack of awareness I'm unsurprised you have forgotten." Her chilling voice rang out causing the bully to rapidly pale, and his eyes widened in fear as he turned to the cold stared of his teacher, it was at that moment that he knew he'd fucked up.

"Miss- Miss Goodwitch, I-I mean-."

"SILENCE, Mr. Winchester, I heard everything, and we will be discussing both you and your team's behavior on this field trip with the Headmaster!" She told him as he went into shock as he knew he was truly screwed.

He went to speak, but just then the Bullhead touched down. As the doors opened, a group of medical staff quickly boarded and raised Jaune to take into the medical wing.

"It appears we have arrived at Beacon. Those of you who faced the Grimm follow Mr. Arc to the Medical Wing to have a check-up, those that did not can return to their room for a night's rest. Expect to be called to Professor Ozpin's office soon to give him and me a FULL account of what happened today, that especially goes for you Team CRDL. I expect to see you all there." She told the group sending a sharp glare to the all-male team as most of them followed Jaune to the hospital with only Cardin going with them from his own team, the others being scared off to their room from her glare.

Watching them enter the building she turned to make her way to Beacon tower, she had to tell Ozpin about what happened. Both with Cardin's actions as well as the appearance of another B-Class Grimm close to Vale, once at initiation was suspicious enough but again within a month means something is happening with the Grimm. And that could only mean something bad was coming.

* * *

Sore.

That's what Jaune felt when he finally came to after being asleep for Oum knows how long. As his eyes tried to crack open, they quickly shut due to the lights bearing down on him. Groaning in pain, he allowed himself a few moments to adjust before opening his eyes again. Seeing he was in a white room on an equally white bed, a heart monitor hooked up to his chest and IV to his arm. It was easy to understand he was in the hospital, most likely at Beacon given the tower located out the window of his room.

Sighing, Jaune slowly sat up, stretching out the aches and pain in his body, not moving for a long time meant a series of cracks followed his movement much to his slight pain and great relief. Once he sat up, Jaune tried to recall how he ended up here and after a few minutes remembered his battle with the Beringel and how he pushed himself so far to protect his friends. The blonde was remembered how angry he was watching Pyrrha get beaten into the ground that he didn't think about his limits and went past all out to kill the B-Class Grimm before it could hurt her or the others anymore.

"I wonder how the others are doing?" he asked aloud to himself as he scanned the room once more. Looking at his side by the window he could see his armor and clothes sitting on one of the chairs. Seeing this he looked under his sheets to confirm he was dressed in a hospital gown before seeing where the rest of his stuff was. His eyes locked on the Golden handle of his once sealed weapon in all its glory, Excalibur.

Standing too quickly, Jaune stumbled due to the lack of feeling in his legs and almost fell but he managed to catch himself on the desk where his weapon lay. Getting his feet under himself, not enough felling to walk but he could at least stand. His eyes scanned over the sword, taking in all its detail.

It had been so long since he last laid eyes on the weapon a slight sting came to his eyes, it was like being reunited with a dear friend after so long of not seeing them that a burst of emotion welled up in his chest. Reaching out with hesitation before resolving himself, his hand wrapped around the handle and a rush of warmth filled his body. He felt so right holding the weapon once more after so long he almost couldn't believe he hadn't held it for months now. It was a little overwhelming, but Jaune collected himself as a bright smile came to his face as he stared at his reflection in the blade.

"Good to have you, old friend."

*CRASH*

Snapping his head and the blade in his hand at the direction of the noise, Jaune's breath hitched as his Azure eyes locked with bright Emerald that soon misted over. His teammate and partner Pyrrha stood at the door, a glass shattered on the ground as she stared in disbelief at her leader who had his sword pointed at her, but it was the fact he was up that shocked her.

"JAUNE!"

*CRASH*

At the call of his name the champion had launched herself at her partner like a red comet, ducking past his sword and tackled the poor boy to the ground, Excalibur flying out of his hand and landing with a clang as the now crying girl clung to Jaune. While she cried in happiness at her leader being awake Jaune, while liking the hug, rapidly tapped the girl on the back as she slowly crushed him in the embrace, that along with how sore he was caused pain to spread across his body at an alarming rate.

"PYRRHA, while I'm happy to see you too, everything, still HURTS, and this is not HELPING!" he cried out getting her to quickly snap out of her emotional turmoil and promptly let go of her leader.

"IM SORRY!" Pyrrha reactively cried as she took a seat next to the groaning boy as she looked on in worry, Pyrrha had not expected to see him up when she came to visit him after classes today. But seeing him up caused her emotions to burst forth and demand she hug the man. She blushed slightly at having felt his solid physic against herself when they hugged, given he only had the thin cowl covering his body. As she watched him stretch his body out, she could only blush more as she imagined what he looked like under the cowl but shot those thoughts away in favor of thinking of how he defeated the Grimm and how he had said that it wouldn't take her away from him. She blushed more at thinking of what he meant by that, her mind thinking of more "dirty" thoughts on what that could mean. But in the end, she could only think about how he had jumped in to save her, to protect her when her skills had failed her.

'Why am I thinking about it so much? Why does the thought of him protecting me make me so happy?' she asked herself as she felt a warmth spread through her chest, her heart slowly beating faster, she had never felt this way before and wonder what it could be.

"Pyrrha? You ok?" Jaune's voice snapped her out of her thought as she looked up into his eyes, taking a few seconds to just admire his bright eyes she quickly answered the blonde before he became more worried, her blush still covering her cheeks.

"Oh, I-I'm alright Jaune, just glad you're finally awake." She told him getting a confused look from the blonde.

"What do you mean finally? how long was I out?" he cautiously asked, worried he was out for a lot longer than he expected.

"Three Days" a voice answered.

The Duo's heads snapped to the door where the Headmaster of Beacon, Professor Ozpin stood, his cup in one hand with his cane clasped in the other as he smiled down on his two students.

"Professor Ozpin?!" the two shouted in surprise and they quickly rose from the floor, While Pyrrha was successful with rising Jaune was still having trouble getting his legs under himself and stumbled and would have fallen in his partner had not caught his arm and steadied him. Thanking her, he once again looked towards the older man with a confused look, not expecting to see him so soon after waking.

"How did you know I was awake sir?" He asked with Pyrrha nodding along, wanting to know as well. Chuckling at their confused looks, he gestured toward the monitors next to Jaune's bed.

"I got an alert that you had been disconnected from your monitor as I wanted to know when you were awake. I was close by when this happened and decided to come over and see if you were up, and here you are." He answered getting nods of understanding from the pair.

"Wait, three days?!" Jaune cried out, his mind finally catching up with what the Professor had said, he quickly looked to his partner who nodded in conformation at the news. He was shocked to hear he was out for half a week after what had happened, an 'ahem' pulled him from his thought as Ozpin gave him a smile of understanding.

"It should come as no shock given that you were suffering from Aura Exhaustion, its very common for people stuffing from the ailment to be unconscious for days, even weeks given how far they may have pushed themselves. It's more shocking to see you up so soon as we expected you to wake up in a week and not a handful of days, it would appear your Aura regenerates at quite a large amount given your reserves." Ozpin explained getting a nod from the boy. Jaune expected his semblance had a hand in his quick recovery as his Aura Amplification could increase the speed of which his aura returned but given it cost aura to activate, he didn't bother looking into if it the gain could outweigh the cost, but it appeared on a passive level it does. 'Something to look into later.'

"While I would like to allow you to rest more, I would like it if you could follow me to my office as there is a conversation that has been on hold during your recovery and seeing you are finally awake it would be best to get this problem sorted out as soon as possible," Ozpin told the pair. While Pyrrha wanted to object and allow Jaune more time to rest, her memory of what they were going to discuss caused her to hold her tongue.

Confused but nodding anyway Jaune focused his aura into his sore legs to try and reliving the pain with mild success, it would still be a bit hard to move, but he could at least finally walk albeit slowly. Detaching himself from Pyrrha, he moved over to his clothes and started to get changed.

Ozpin moved to give the boy his privacy but glanced back to see the young leader's partner gaze at the young man's back as his gown started to roll down his body. While he found it amusing to watch a crimson blush climb up her face, he thought it is best to save the two the embarrassment.

"Come along Ms. Nikos, best give Mr. Arc his privacy." He said aloud and snapping her out of her thoughts. With a face the color of her hair and steam shooting out her ear the young lady quickly shoots out the room in embarrassment, Ozpin not far behind and a smile on his face.

It took Jaune a few minutes to get dressed, but he finally stepped out the room with his armor coving his body, Excalibur held in his hand as he didn't have a way to clip it to himself now. Having used some of the wrappings before to attach it to his belt but they were gone so he was forced to hold it until he could get a sheath.

An image of his mother presenting him a blue and gold sheath flashed in his mind, but he waved it off as the two students, and headmaster made their way across the school grounds towards the tower.

* * *

Stepping into Ozpin's office the headmaster steeped around his desk and pressed a button on his desk and spoke aloud, "Miss Goodwitch can you message the Teams that were apart of the Forever Fall incident to head to my office please." Once he got confirmation, he made his way into one of the side rooms and started moving extra chairs for the teams on the way. Jaune wanted to help, but Pyrrha told him to sit on the first chair the headmaster brought and rest and went to help Ozpin herself, leaving Jaune to watch the two set up the seats for the coming discussion.

Not long after the chairs were set up, three sets of four, the elevator opened, and the Deputy Headmistress stepped into the room, her usual stoic expression on her face. "The children should be arriving shortly Oz- "she paused as her eyes locked on the mob of blonde hair sitting in one of the seats. Taking a moment for her mind to understand who it was along with giving Jaune enough time to turn to greet her a smile her own broke across her face as she stepped close to Jaune and enveloped him in a hug that he returned. "It's good to see you up Jaune."

"It's good to be up, Miss Glynn." He responded as the two took a moment to enjoy the hug before braking it and stepping back, smiling at one another, Glynda's smile soon changed into a scowl as her eyes locked onto the other two people in the room. Ozpin and Pyrrha could only smile at the affection the two shared as they both knew of there past, but as soon as they saw her glare on the two of them, a cold shiver ran down their spines.

"Either of you two mention this and the rest of your time at this school will be nothing but hell. Am I clear?" her cold voice rang out as the two paled and shook their heads in agreement at her threat, knowing that she would stay true to her word if this ever got out.

"JAUNE!"" JAUNE-JAUNE!"

*CRASH*

Luckily for the headmaster and champion, the opening of the elevator broke the tension in the room as two blurs slammed into the young knight and took him to the ground once again with a crash.

'This is becoming a trend' Jaune groaned in his aching head as he looked to see who was lying on his chest. He saw one head of orange and one of black with red ends letting him know his last female teammate and fellow leader were the ones to tackle him to the ground. That and the rapid loss of air were clear indications of who it was.

"Get off him, you dolts! He just got out of the hospital and doesn't need to return so soon!" a voice he recognized as Weiss's cried out as the rest of his friends walked into his view over the dogpile.

"Calm down Ice Queen, they're just happy to see him," Yang said but didn't do much to calm the heiress down as she yelled again at the mention of her hated nickname. Blake and Ren could only roll their eyes at their friends but couldn't help but smile despite their flaws. The two looked down and nodded at Jaune who smiled and nodded back as he returned the hugs the two girls on top of him, they had loosened up at Weiss's cry but still had yet to let go.

"OMG! Are you ok Fearless Leader? You didn't wake up, and we got worried you were in a coma or something and that without our leader team JNPR would have to break up and have to get a new leader but forever be weight down by the loss of our first leader and NEVER RECOVER!" Nora rambled in a single breath before taking a large gulp of air as the rest of the room stared at the ginger in both worry and confusion.

Ignoring Nora's… Nora moment, Jaune just smiled at the energetic girl, "Don't worry Nora, I don't plan and dying anytime soon and leaving my team behind. Arc Promise." He told her getting a broad smile in return. Turning to the other girl he cringed seeing the slight tears in Ruby's unique silver eyes, it seems his time at the hospital had upset his fellow leader a great deal. Pulling the girl into a tighter hug, he whispered that it was the same for her as well, getting a small nod for her as she buried her head in his chest.

The rest of the room smiled at their interaction, even Weiss couldn't help but smile at her leader's interaction with the boy, even if it was childish. Blake was much the same in seeing how her leader was still innocent in most regards and hoped she never lost that innocence in the future. Yang smiled at her sister, having watched her over the last three days worry and fret over her first friend, her smile turned feral at all the teasing ammo she did and is now getting to use on her sister later but for now let her get her emotions out.

Ren was much the same, happy to see his best male friend finally up, well awake, and moving around. That along with his interaction with both Nora and Ruby showing him the kind heart his leader had for his friends, it warmed his heart to see Nora so happy and proved that he was right to put his trust in Jaune as his leader.

Getting up off the ground Jaune moved over to his best male friend and pulled him into a hug as they patted each other's back before breaking away with a smile on their faces. "Good to have you back Jaune."

"Good to be back."

"You gave us quite the scare their Sir Knight, can't have my fellow blonde kick the bucket so soon." Yang told him with a 'light' punch to his arm, the wince he gave proved that it wasn't as light as he would have wanted.

"Yang right, its good to see you again Jaune." Blake followed by slapping Yang's arm for hitting him, she only shrugged in response leading to Blake rolling her eyes at her partner actions.

"Indeed, it good to see you well Jaune. But don't think you're going to get off easy after that stunt you pulled, and don't even get me started on that new sword of yours. You've got a lot to explain mister." Weiss said next, keeping her professional air around herself but the scowl that came to her face showed she wasn't happy with whatever secrets he was holding.

The mention of his sword brought it to the room's attention, the blade having been lay against his chair when he rose to meet Miss Goodwitch. Now that they had recollected with the blonde knight the questions the group had started filling their minds but before they could question him the sound of the elevator opening drew the rooms inhabitants' eyes, scowls and stoic look soon fell on their faces as Team CDLR entered the room, scowls of there own on their faces. Seeing all the people in the room they tried not to flinch under all the glares they were getting for there fellow teams but when their eyes fell on the blonde knight their eyes slightly widened before their scowls returned, Cardin's becoming much deeper than the rest.

"Well, it seems Sleeping Beauty finally woke up. Did one of your cheerleaders finally bite the bullet and kiss you awake?" he joked getting a laugh from his team while the groups scowl deepened.

"Given the severity of the situation you are in Mr. Winchester, I recommend not joking at the moment," Ozpin told the boy who, along with his team quickly shut up. Seeing everyone was here he gestured to the seats, silently telling the group of twelve to take a seat.

The room stayed entirely silent for a few moments before Ozpin finally spoke again. "Now that all the participants are here, I feel it's about time you all told us what exactly happened at Forever Fall a few days ago, and please don't skip out on anything." He told them with a seriousness the teams had not seen from the headmaster before.

Ruby and Jaune locked eyes, and a quick conversation went on between the two leaders, they knew their team spent almost the whole trip together and wanted to see who would tell it. Jaune was the one to finally turn away to address the headmaster, trying his best to not flinch under his calculating gaze.

"I think I can freely speak for Team RWBY and my own given our teams didn't split up from each other for the assignments." He spoke as clearly as possible. Ozpin sent Ruby a quick glaze to see if it was ok and got a nod in return. Gesturing for him to continue Jaune went onto explain what had happened for the first half of the trip as the two teams gathered sap, not much had happened, but Ozpin had asked them to not skip out on any detail so Jaune didn't. It took a few minutes for him to explain what happened up until the jar was thrown.

"It was then while speaking with Ruby that Blake called out a warning, acting on instinct I drew my shield to cover us and was hit with a jar of sap," Jaune told him getting confused looks from the two teachers and glares from the all boy team.

"A Jar? How were you hit with a Jar? Was it one of your team?" Miss Goodwitch asked. She had already thought of who was responsible but wanted them to confirm her suspicions, Ozpin thinking the same as he listens to Jaune's recollection of the day's events.

Before Jaune could continue Blake stepped in being that she was the one to first see the jar and warn them, she felt it best if she continued the story for this bit. "It wasn't any of us, I was the one to spot the jar, and it came from a ridge not far from where we all were, both team RWBY and JNPR were there, so it wasn't any of us." As she spoke the glares coming from the all-male team only deepened. Blake paid them no mind as she continued.

"While this could have only been a harmless prank, the fact that not long after a swarm of Rapier Wasps soon followed, makes us believe this was planned out." With the mention of the small Grimm both teachers' eyes widened and the apparent anger on Miss Goodwitch face showed how dangerous this information was.

"Rapier Wasps? They're not indigenous to the Forever Falls, you only see them around the center of the continent, the most northern they ever get is the Emerald Forest. If what you say is true, then someone must have brought them with you all." She concluded as her eyes locked on Team CDNL.

"Why are you looking at us? We didn't do it?" Cardin exclaimed but it was a pathetic defense given they were the only other people there, Cardin didn't pay them any mind as he huffed his annoyance, "Can we move this along, I have stuff to do."

"You will go when we tell you to Mr. Winchester. Until then, refrain from your comments." Glynda hissed at the boy getting him to clam up. Jaune continued after Blake had said her piece seeing he could now proceed.

"When I understood what was happening, I tried to escape from the swarm. But they were relentless. After a while I realized it was the sap they were drawn to and threw my shield away." He stated, the next part brought a nervous chuckle to lips causing a raised eyebrow from Ozpin and another sigh from Glynda. Shooing an apologetic look at his ginger teammate he continues." When it was finally away from me, Nora proceeded to kill the Grimm with a well-placed grenade. But sadly, my weapon didn't survive the blast and is now unusable." Hearing this the two teachers looked to the girl to see a guilty look on her face as she winced at hearing what she did told aloud.

"I'm Sorry." She whispered, making her best Pyrrha impression.

"Don't worry about its Nora," Jaune told her with a smile, one she weakly returned.

"Soon after that… event, we heard a Grimm roar in the distance followed by screams. Soon after most of team CRDL came running out of the forest crying out that an Ursa was attacking Cardin." Hearing this, the two teachers once again looked to the all-boy team to see three of its members trying their best to not make eye contact with anyone else in the room.

Ozpin shook his head in disappointment, it wouldn't do well to have hunters that flee at the first sign of trouble and given if what Blake had said is true, Ozpin had a decision to make, but he would wait till they were finished to do so.

"While we were caught off guard by what they told us I quickly realized they he may need help and speed off in the direction of the roar. When I finally arrived, I found Cardin disarmed with an Ursa Major looming over him. Luckily it was too distracted to notice me, so I used the opportunity to attack, catching it in the neck and decapitating it." He finished getting a proud smile from his friends and Miss Goodwitch, Ozpin kept his straight face but was also proud of his student. A scoff brought everyone's attention to Cardin who was glaring at Jaune.

"I didn't need your help Arc." he hissed, repeating the same argument they had in the forest. Jaune, however, didn't rise to his bait like last time and just glared back. Pyrrha was the next to talk, an uncharacteristic amount of venom in her voice.

"It was the same in the forest, Cardin started arguing with Jaune about saving his life, and it was what drew to the Beringel to us." she growled out getting nods from both Ruby and Weiss who had been with them.

"Is that so? Is this when Mr. Arc was injured?" Ozpin asked getting regretful looks from all the girls who were there, the worst of all coming from Ruby who flinched at the memory of Jaune flying out of her vision when the Grimm first attacked. Not everyone was so sad about that turn of event as a snort of laughter rang out in the room. Once again everyone looked to Cardin who was trying to hide a laugh and smile from his face.

"Is something funny?" Yang growled, eyes going red in anger at the bully's enjoyment at the mention of her friend's pain.

"Not really, just that it was the fact he was protecting little red that he got hit in the first place. She should have been faster." He chuckled out getting Ruby to pull her hood over her head as to not show the tears well up in her eyes at his words. Part of her blamed herself for the condition Jaune ended up in, she had a speed semblance but, in the end, it didn't help her when she needed it, and Jaune paid the price.

"Mr. Winchester, I feel it best to hold your tongue, you and your team are already on thin ice, you best not make it worse for yourself," Glynda says but once again he scoffed, he just wanted to get a jab in at the teams and knew the younger girl was an easier target. "If you have so much to say I feel it best we hear what it was you really felt about the situation." With that she started playing the conversation form the Bullhead ride, hearing his words played back to him Cardin stated to pale at learning what he said was recorded.

When the recording ended, the room went quiet as everyone waited for what the Headmaster would say given what he was told. Given what the video said, and that it was most likely that what Miss Belladonna had said was also true lead him to come to one decision.

"While at first, I hoped your time at Beacon would change your attitude. This along with past reports of bullying of both physical and vocal abuse had led me to question your positions at this school." He stated, his eyes locking with those of Team CDNL who froze at the anger in his eyes. "While I was ready to just give you all remedy lesson and detention in hopes of sorting your attitudes out. You planned and executed an attack on a fellow student, if this were to happen on school grounds, I might have been only harsher with your punishments, but the fact this took place out in the field in a Grimm infested forest means this is more than a simple prank. That along with abandoning your leader for three of you and the wanting to use an injured person as bait to escape the Grimm, I see no other option on what to do with you all. Return to your rooms and start packing, you are no longer welcome at my school." with his piece said he waited for the former Team CDNL to remove themselves, but it seemed they were having none of it.

The team shot up in an uproar of anger as they tried to defend themselves, but it only proved to show they were unfitting for the job. Seeing nothing was going to change the Headmaster's mind, most of the team gave up and started moving towards the elevator, thinking of how they would tell their families about their expulsion. But only one had anger to spare.

Cardin was livid as he glared at the headmaster. How dare he expel him, HIM form Beacon. There had to be a way to reverse this, but nothing came to mind, as he tied to understand what happened his eyes turned to glare at the one responsible for all his problems, Jaune Arc. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT ARC! I'll GET YOU FOR THIS!" he cried and tried to rush the boy but was quickly stopped by the purple glow around his body. Turning he met the furious glare of Glynda Goodwitch who was holding him with her semblance, with a flick of her wrist she sent him into the elevator and followed quickly behind, the rest of CDNL giving her as much room as possible in the lift as she stepped inside.

"It would be best I've I escort you all to your room, I will be contacting your family's while you pack who will come and collect you all tomorrow." She told them as she clicked the button to go down. As the elevator closed, the room remained quiet as they realized the school bullies had just been kicked out of Beacon, a wave of relief and happiness swept the room when they understood this. Nora was quick to pull her team into a group hug at the news and cheered shamelessly at the news with Ruby and Yang soon joining, leading Jaune to once again collide with the floor with a yelp.

Letting his student have a moment to themselves Ozpin finally reminded them of his presence causing them to freeze in horror at their actions. Chuckling at there reaction, he waved them off and decided to end the meeting on a high note.

"While it's not quite welcome to be so happy at another's expense, I believe that past events allow for you all to have this reaction. I believe that's all for today. Mr. Arc, be sure to get more rest now that we can put this behind us and move on with our lives." He exclaimed as the dogpile disbanded. "Also, I would ask that you keep what happened secret. Tt would not do well for Miss Goodwitch if word got out a B-class Grimm attacked her students in the field under her watch." He told them getting nods from the group. Jaune being the last up nodded himself, not wanting his honorary big sister to get in trouble. Thinking of his family, his eyes drifted to his sword, and he made a decision.

"There still some things I've got to discuss with my friends." He said drawing their confused looks, but when he lifted the new sword up, they finally understood. Ozpin himself was curious about the sword but though it best not to pry.

"I see. I believe that is something to best be done in your own room. While I am quite curious myself, I feel this is something you want to keep between friends." Ozpin said getting a grateful smile in return. The elevator open as Miss Goodwitch returned to the room, seeing everyone's eyes were locked on Jaune's sword. She guessed he was planning to tell them about his past now and it brought a smile to her face. Moving around the group as they filled the elevator to its max, she gave Jaune one final smile before the doors closed.

The room was quiet for a moment before their smiles left their faces.

"The fact another B-Class Grimm was so close to Vale is not a good thing Ozpin," Glynda stated with a worried look. Ozpin himself could only give a tired sigh knowing she was right. "With initiation, it could have just been a weird accident, but the fact more were seen in Forever Fall's must mean that the Grimm are starting to close in on the city." She stated

"I know Glynda, this is concerning. I will start sending second and third years out on missions, it seems something may be happening soon, but we have to hope it's just a faze and that things will return to normal." He told his second in command who could only nod but was still worried. They could only hope things would get better, Ozpin most of all as an image of a beautiful pair of blue eyes turned hateful red. He truly hoped nothing happens that could put not only his students, but all of Vale in danger.

* * *

 **And with that comes the end of Team CRDL, I never did like them in the show but that could be chalked up to them never getting a redemption arc or ever seeing them being better. They just stop bullying Jaune and are never heard from again which is a shame.**

 **I also hope you all like that hint I gave about Excalibur's sheath ;).**

 **moving on that I hope you all had a good holiday and got some good gifts from your close ones. I myself got a load of game related stuff with both God of War and Read Dead 2 for my PS4 as well as finally getting a Switch. I've been using some free time to try and beat all the different games I got but with both RE 2 Remake and Kingdom Hearts 3 in the next week I'm not going to be bored any time soon. Let me know any interesting thing you all got, I'd love to know.**

 **Now let's answer some questions.**

 **NexusPrime42-** I haven't but much thought past key plot point into Vol4 and beyond, it's something I plan to look at when I'm writing the start of Vol 3 content but until then its on the back burner.

 **Ruberforumfree/Gen2324/Yami-Guy-** Well they would have been 15 at the time of the fall out so just coming out of middle school (I'm English so I assume that's right) but there was a bit more to the falling out. That's something I will be going into when it comes time to properly introduce then in the between storyline of V1 and V2 but until them you'll have to wait.

 **Dxhologram-** Quite a bit here mate so let's get started. For him giving people hope it's something I plan to do but not to the degree as Saber in Fate, at least not for a while. I assume by 'Excaliblast' you mean Excalibur's Nobel Phantasm? Spoilers ;) Again Spoilers for how the God of Light and Darkness will be implemented for a later plot line. Ozpin and Salem's past will have a connection to the Arc's, for hit think of what they were doing before they had a falling out then guess from there. Lastly from the next chapter onwards you can expect to see more JNPR moments.

 **Metastable-** Sorry I don't know what you mean, what are the 'saber faces'?

 **Giuseppe-** (I had to use google translate so I hope it translated right) I'm hoping to get better at writing the battle later down the line. I've never wrote battle scenes before this fic let alone wrote stories at all. I hope to get better and more detailed in the future.

 **Perry-** Spoilers ;)

 **AdinPryde-** sorry not much action happened this chapter but we may have one in the next one, as for the spelling it's something we are trying to do better at but I am sorry for any mistakes.

 **Boron-** I haven't thought of using the locations in my story but who know what will happen down the line. As for more Fate related stuff most of it will come from characters showing up in the story and the weapons but I may have an idea for a later plot point but that's at least until Vol 4 sorry.

 **Lloyd RPGFan-** Your right in that regards but in my story an Arc's weapon is important on a spiritual level, I'm going to be going into this more next chapter.

 **That's all for now, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to next chapter. Jaune friends are about to learn about Excalibur and the Arc Family, we will finally see what lead him to seal his weapon, next time.**

 **See you around space cowboys** **, Malluk.**


	8. Chapter 8 - Coming Clean

**Hey, Malluk here with chapter 8 of Knight of Hunters!**

 **First off, I'd like to thank you all so much for the support this story has gotten, I don't really look at the numbers but then I saw it had over 400 Favourites and almost 500 Follows it hit me how much people are enjoying this story. It really warms my heart to see my dumb fan story be so supported and I hope I can continue to entertain you all with this story and any others I might write in the future.**

 **I'm happy to see people were happy with the last chapter, I was slightly worried it may be a boring given what happened in chapter 6 but people seemed to enjoy seeing CRDL getting there just deserves, here's hoping you all enjoy this chapter as well.**

 **Its time for Jaune to come clean to his friend, what will be said, how will people react, what lead Jaune to seal Excalibur away at the start of Beacon? Stay tuned and find out!**

 **Note: there will be some repeat information in this chapter, you have been warned.**

 **RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay Night is the property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting, only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Please support the original products.**

 **Edited by: M.H. Pintner**

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

 _ **Coming clean**_

Stepping into JNPR's bedroom, Jaune moved over to his desk and started removing his armor. While he wanted to put it all in his locker, the following discussion was too important to postpone, and he felt they could do with a good polishing after everything that happened a few days ago. Removing the last of his armor, he was left in his hooded tunic and blue pants. Wanting to get more comfortable he took out his pajamas and turned to face his friends. The only one missing being Ren who offered to get Jaune some much-needed food given he hadn't eaten for three days, he had also promised to bring snacks for the other under the pleading stares of Ruby and Nora meaning he didn't have much choice.

"I recommend getting changed into something more comfortable, I'm gonna be going into some stuff, so I want you all comfortable." He spoke aloud getting nods from all the girls. Team RWBY moved to get changed in their own room as Nora and Pyrrha went to get their own clothes.

Letting the girls get changed and finished first he walked into the bathroom and started up a shower for himself, with the event of Forever Fall Forest and three days in a bed he was in desperate need of one. Stepping under the stream of water he allowed his body to relax after what had happened since he finally awoke. The fact Team CRDL was no more was still sinking in for the blonde but was something he was planning to move past and bury there, what was on his mind most of all was what he was going to tell his friends. Part of him wanted to be vague like he was with Pyrrha, but Jaune knew he couldn't, it was burning him up inside and wanted to come clean to them and answer the question he knew they all had since he first used his semblance back in initiation.

"Time to put up or shut up." He whispered to himself finally finishing his shower and stepping out. Drying and getting changed into a plain shirt and PJs he stepped out into his room to the eyes of all his friends sitting on his teams' beds. Uncomfortable from all the steers he looked over to Ren who had some food for him. Taking the tray and thanking his friend who went to change himself the room was silent as he devoured his food, the hunger finally catching up to him and lead him to finish by the time Ren returned from getting changed. Placing the tray on his desk, he pulled his chair to the center of the room in front of his friends. He took a few more moments to ready himself before starting.

"Before I get started, I need to set some ground rules for what I tell you all." He stated seriously getting all his friends to nod in agreement.

"First, nothing I tell you leaves this room, you don't discuss it with anyone else. Some of the stuff I'm going to say are family secrets that we don't want others knowing about. I'm putting my trust in you all to keep it." He explained getting nods of agreement all around.

"Following on from that, if I feel one of your questions is too personal, I have a right to decline answering said question." He stated getting mixed reactions.

"But you promised us you'd answer any question we had, are you trying to go back on your word?" Weiss questioned slightly annoyed he was going back on his promise, but the look Jaune gave her caused her to flinch.

"While I promised to clear things up, I'm not about to tell you everything about myself. You wouldn't want to tell me everything about yourself so don't expect it from me." The blonde sternly replied getting a quick nod from her, she wouldn't want them to ask about her family or her scar, so she had no right to demand answers from him.

Taking a deep breath, Jaune began. "The Arc's have been around for almost as long as people have, if what our history book leads us to believe our family was one of the first to use Aura and dust to fight the Grimm." He began and already got surprised looks from his friends, the Arc family already filled up history many books, but to know they go back to the start was quite a shock.

"The Arc family have always been warriors for as long as we existed and there have been two constants in our family. Our Semblances and our Armory." This piqued their interest to hear the Arc's had an Armory with only Pyrrha knowing of it. The one to react the most was Ruby who dashed in front of Jaune with stars in her eyes.

"YOU HAVE AN ARMORY!?" she cried as she started shaking Jaune, "Why didn't you tell me!? You got to let me see it! Please!?" Ruby pleaded, wishing to see an Armory full of weapons but her constant shaking resulted in him getting dizzy.

"Let him go, you dolt!" Weiss having enough pulled her leader away from Jaune allowing him a chance to regain himself, Ruby just pouted as Weiss sat her back down on Jaune's bed before turning to face him with a serious look. "Ok, I have a few questions. First, I want to know about your semblance since you promised to tell Ruby and me back in initiation. Secondly, if your family had an Armory why didn't you use something else instead of Crocea Mors, why not change?" she asked with a raised eyebrow getting everyone to stare at Jaune in anticipation.

*sigh* "Ok they go hand in hand so let's start with our semblance. Much like your family, the Arc's semblances usually share something important with each other like with yours its Glyphs, but with ours, it revolves around Aura enhancement." He explained getting a nod from Weiss about the facts about the Schnee semblance. "While the Glyphs are the core of their semblance, they usually have a specialization to go with it for her its Dust use and her older sister, summoning glyphs. From there, our semblances usually grow to have a specialization in what part of Aura gets enhanced or improved." He finished allowing the others to absorb the information. While some had a hard time grasping the subject others already had questions lined out for the blonde leader.

Ren was the first to ask getting everyone's attention." If that's the case can you give us some examples?" he asked getting a small smile and nod from his leader, he was quite curious to hear about all the different ways his family took the simple concept of Aura enhancement.

"OK, let's start with mine since its one you all have seen." He told them as he rose his arm which quickly became bathed in his white Aura. "My Semblance is Aura Amplification, it allows me to Amplify the properties of my aura or the aura of those that I'm in physical contact with. Think of it as a self-buff from a video game that improves all my stats." He explained getting nods all around, even from Weiss getting looks of surprise.

"What? I play games!" she huffed in annoyance, but the dust of red on her cheek showed she was quite embarrassed at the conversion. Seeing people start to get over their shock, Blake was the one to talk next, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"If it's like a buff, why is it that when you use it, you end up hurting yourself if you push too hard?" she asked to bring people back to Jaune.

"While I say it's like a buff, this is real life, and the body can only take so much. While I can increase my strength and speed, if I push myself too far, I can cause damage to my muscles. Its why I gradually increase my strength when I use it so my body can adapt to the new power running through it. But if I push my semblance to quickly, while it can give me a burst of power, my body can't handle the strain leading to me hurting myself." He told them getting understating looks all round "It's why I was out for a few days after Forever Fall's. I pushed my semblance past my bodies limit, and while it gave me the strength to beat the Beringel, I ended up stressing my body. That with running out of Aura meant I couldn't heal myself and need the few days to regain my aura." He finished.

Taking in what Jaune said it explains why he was able to overpower the Beringel as well as hold back the Death Stalker back in the initiation, he pushed his semblance to rush to Ruby's aid against the giant scorpion, and in the Beringel's case, overpower it. It's an undoubtedly powerful semblance but without proper control, leaves the user vulnerable.

"You mentioned you could use it on others, how does that work?" Yang asked wanting to know if it could buff her strength up to finally beat Nora's bench press record.

"Yeah, I can use it to buff anyone I'm touching, I mostly use it to buff peoples Semblance to increase their power." He explained getting interested looks all around, it was clear they wanted to know how his semblance would affect their semblances. "We can see how yours are all effected later." He told them getting smiles and nods all around.

Nora was the next to ask blinking in front of her leader causing him to jump. "What about your family? What're their semblances like? Can they also buff you up? If you all buff up one person could they lift a Car? A Building? A Bus!?"

"Nora, a building is bigger than a bus." Ren's voice cut her off from continuing getting an "ok Ren!" in response getting her team to shake their heads, but they all had gotten used to Nora's eccentric behavior, Team RWBY not so much who looked a bit but off at her hyper behavior, at least the older members.

"Well one of my younger sisters, Mash, has Aura Reinforcement which buffs the defensive side of aura making her almost impossible to hurt. Then her twin Atalanta has Aura sight which improves her eyesight and allows her to see others aura, it's part of why her weapons a bow so she can fire at people from a distance." He said getting nods from the others, it was clear to see that Jaune had acquired a more general buffing Semblance while his younger sisters got more specific ones.

"Any other ones to mention?" Pyrrha asked interested in the older Arc's semblances.

"While I would go into my older sisters, their all Professional hunters and I don't think they would like me talking about them. But I guess I can talk about my twins which is quite similar to my own. Hers is like mine, it also amplifies aura." He started getting confused looks.

"Is it the same as yours then?" Nora asked with a head tilt, but Jaune shook his head.

"Not quite. The key differences are that while mine is more potent in its effects, my sister's effect the area around her allowing her to buff multiple people at once if their close by." He explained getting surprised looks from his friends.

"Really? That sounds to be quite the useful semblance for a team if one could buff the others." Pyrrha exclaimed with a thoughtful look on her face. Locking eyes with her leader she asked the question on her mind. "Why is it your twin isn't here at Beacon as well? Did she not want to become a huntress?"

"No, she's still training to be a huntress, it's just she's learning under our mother as an apprentice. They have a similar weapon type, so Mom saw it as a chance to pass on her techniques." Jaune explained.

"Weapon? What weapon?" Ruby asked, perking up at the mention of weapons, Jaune couldn't help but chuckle at her enthusiasm.

"Our mother uses a Lance as a weapon while Jeanne uses a Battle Flag." He told them.

"A Battle Flag? Weird choice since it's just a spear with cloth at the end."

"Says the Scythe user." Jaune deadpanned.

"Hey! Scythes are cool!" Ruby argued.

Before they could continue Ren cut them off wanting to keep the discussion going. "Since we have moved on let's go back to what you mean about your family having an Armory." His question pulled Him and Ruby from their little argument as well as allowed Jaune to continue his story which he was glad for.

"Right. Now that you know about our semblance the other side to the Arc's is our Armory. The Arc Armory has been with the family for almost as long as its existed, there are a few conflicting stories about its origins, but it's always been in the family." He explained.

Blake raised her hand to get Jaune's attention, "What different stories are there? You said you could trace your family back to the start of humanity due to your books, so how is it not clear what happened?"

"Like most things, time names may stay the same, but the story will change each time it's told. We may have books discussing our past, but all written at deferent times with different authors. In some stories, the Armory was created by one of our ancestors who traveled the world collecting weapons and riches in his own vault that became the Armory. Another says the Armory was always there full of weapons from a time before Dust, or that a great Wizard used his magic to craft weapons for the first of humanity to fight back against the Grimm. We simply don't know when the Armory was first created, given its location we could say my home town was built around the Armory or that the Armory was made to hold the spoils of war, but who knows." He finished with a shrug.

"What about your weapon?" Nora suddenly asked to bring everyone's attention to her. "Miss Goodwitch said it was the first Arc's weapon, how come you were using Crocea Mors before the other day?" she asked, and that was the question of the day, where did his new sword come from and why only start using it now.

Jaune knew this conversation was leading to this point and was waiting for it to come. Standing up he moved over to his desk, Excalibur sitting against the hardwood. He picked up the sword and took a moment to gaze at the sword before speaking.

"Know that what I'm about to talk about is a closely kept secret of the Arc family. Only close friends know, and I'm trusting you all with this, but you need to know to understand." His voice was calm but had a weight to it that weighed down on all of them. While he had mentioned it before it truly dawned on them how important this information was.

"We promise Jaune, please tell us," Pyrrha told him with a wave of agreement in the room, each person fully understanding. Taking one last breath, he began.

"The reason I told you all about our Semblance and Armory is that they take a critical role for us. When an Arc is born, they aren't named straight away. When they are born, they are brought to the Arc Armory to undertake a ceremony. This ceremony is to bond our souls with a weapon." He started, the gasps of surprise told him what his friends were thinking, but he continued. "When someone is born so is their Aura, and in our infant state, a ceremony similar to unlocking one's aura is performed at the entrance to the Armoury. When it starts the small piece of aura in our body and travels into the vault to select a weapon that will be with us for the rest of our lives." This truly shocked them. The fact their aura, their very soul seeks out a weapon to use since birth is farfetched to them, but the sternness of his words indicated he wasn't lying. "When a weapon is picked out its then that the child is named, the name being the most famous user of the weapon chosen." He finished Turing around he looked over his friends to see their shock on their faces. Allowing them time to gather themselves he moved back to his chair to sit down, placing Excalibur in his lap.

It took a few minutes for them to gather themselves, but it was Ren who first spoke after the long silence. "So, is Crocea Mors your weapon or this new one?"

"It's named Excalibur, and it's my weapon." He answered getting a nod from his fellow male.

"So, does that mean you're named after its owner?" the dry chuckle he let out worried not only himself but the ladies in the room as well. Jaune ignored their looks, and his eyes drifted down to the sword in his lap, softly running his hand over the blade.

"No, I was a… special case, when I undertook the weapon ceremony when I was born along with my twin, something that never happened before, happened. I didn't have a weapon." Gasps came from his friends at the news, "I was nameless."

"How can that be? You have a sword and a name?" Yang asked getting over her shock first.

"I'm named after the owner of my sister's weapon since it was the only one they had." he told them with a sigh, "Since I didn't have a weapon, they gave me my great-great grandfather's weapon."

"Crocea Mors," Ren spoke getting a nod from Jaune.

"Yeah, while it was a weapon it wasn't my weapon, the bond is more than a connection to a weapon and getting named is also the final piece of our soul and allows us to fully use them, without my weapon my Aura was locked."

"Didn't your parents unlock it for you?" Blake asked, but again Jaune shook his head.

"The Arc family semblance's while quite powerful require a large amount of aura to use, with that it's best for us to unlock our aura by our self since aura is known to be more potent when someone unlocks it themselves. This is why our weapons are so important as it allows us to more easily unlock it our self. If my parents did unlock my aura the chances of using my semblance, even unlocking it was close to impossible." he told them.

"What happened?" Ruby meekly asked worried for her friend as he spoke so sadly of this event, it was clear to see how not getting his weapon had affected him even now.

"I spent my childhood being the outcast, the Arc without a weapon, I couldn't unlock my aura, so I could never stand against my sisters in training, even my younger sister started beating me by when they reached around 10 years old. I tried desperately to stand with them, pushing myself to the breaking point in both my body and skills but Crocea Mors' wasn't my weapon."

"What do you mean?" Nora asked, confused by that statement.

"Like I said, Arc's have one weapon for life, any other weapon even a copy would never be comfortable to us, there would always be a part of us that feels uncomfortable holding another weapon." He explained getting looks of realization.

"That's why you always had trouble with it, why you would be so stiff in class," Weiss exclaimed getting a nod from Jaune who had a bitter smile.

"Yeah, no matter what I did I could never catch up. My family tried to get me to stop, but I never did, they tried to support my decision but always gave me sad looks, they pitied me for not being like them. The only one not to was Glynda and my older sister Tamamo. Glynda looked after us when we were younger, when she left to become a huntress, Tam was the one I started spending the most time with."

"Were you two close?" Yang asked being an older sister herself she couldn't think of looking down on her sister for being different.

"Very so, she was a bit of an outcast in the family as well until I helped her connect with us, Tam was adopted into the family, so she didn't share any of our traits. But she was still one of us but different like me. She was the one to teach me how to cook and the one to place the seal on Excalibur when I came here." He stated, getting smiles from his friends.

"Speaking of Excalibur when did it come into the picture? You clearly have aura and a weapon; how did that happen?" Ruby excitedly asked what to know how he came across the weapon.

A pleasant smile crossed Jaune's face when he thought back to when he got his weapon. "It was my 15th Birthday, and I wasn't in the best of moods. I won't bore you with the details, but I ended up in the Armory just wandering around. I would go down there to daydream about having a weapon, seeing which ones I would like to have and bond with but unlike the other times I felt something." He started, the others scooted closer in anticipation.

"I felt a pull deeper into the Armory, hall after hall of weapons I finally came across an altar with a cloth over it. It was here I found Excalibur calling to me. I knew what it was the second I lay eyes on it, and when I finally held it, I felt complete, and my Aura burst forth. The Warmth spread across me like the first sunrise of my life, and I knew I was whole." He finished getting a few tearful but happy look from his friends, he felt a surge of emoting in telling the story out loud. To his friends, it was clear he was thrilled to be whole. But something wasn't adding up if he was so happy to have Excalibur why didn't he use it until now? Pyrrha had wanted to know this since their talk, what was it that caused him to lock it away.

"Jaune, while I'm happy for you, why didn't you use Excalibur when you got to Beacon?" her question caused the whole room to go still as they all turned to look at Jaune. Pyrrha brought up a valid point, why?

Jaune flinched under there stares and sighed sadly which concerned them. Wasn't it all good now that he had a weapon?

"While I was thrilled to have Excalibur, I changed a lot more then I wanted to. Finally having a weapon meant I could finally catch up with my sisters… but…" he starts but he paused while a few were confused for it Pyrrha understood when her eyes went wide.

"You became opposed." She whispered, but they all herd her. Snapping their eyes snapped to Jaune, he didn't meet their looks of shock.

"Your right. I started training non-stop to catch up with my family that I started neglecting my relationships. Both with my family and friends, I started brushing them off and ignoring them, only focused on improving and becoming the best I could." He told them, but the bitter way he spoke of his improvement showed how he hated how he was.

"What happened?" Nora asked, slightly worried about her leader and what had happened due to his attitude. Jaune didn't respond at first the sadness and self loth rolled off him at what had happened.

"Six Months before Beacon I finally beat my Twin in a spar, I was so happy to finally have won that I ran to my friends to celebrate my victory." He chuckled dryly, "When I found them, I was met with looks of anger and sadness, the year and a half I spent trying to catch up with my family lead me to abandon my friends. And as a result, we had a fulling out. I wasn't there to support them like I had in the past. I had abandoned them when they needed me and broke the promises, I made to them when we were kids. They were my family, but I failed them. When I realized what I had done I tried to fix it but it was too late, they were done waiting for me and resented me for what I had become. Some tried to change me back to what they wanted," he spoke with a cold edge, "others looked at me with distrust," he spoke sombrely at this, "or dismissal," He paused thinking of the one he failed the most, "And with hate."

The room was quiet for a few moments to take in what he had said, that the Jaune in front of them had broken a promise something they didn't think he could do.

"What happened after your falling out?" Ren asked wanting to get to why he didn't use Excalibur, he had started to put the pieces together, but it was clear there was more to come.

"They left for Mistral, they were planning to go to Haven Academy since they didn't want to stay near me, so they moved over a few months before the school year started. I was alone again and threw myself into training. Dumb, I know but it was all I had, I tried to forget and push forward, but a part of me started doubting myself once again, now not only in my skills but in my relationships. I started spending as much time with my family as well in hopes that I didn't lose them either. I started sparing with my sisters and parents more, pushing myself to be better, and I promised to not fail like I had before. Little did I know that something else was happening when I started improving so quickly." he spoke aloud getting concerned looks from his friends.

"What was it." Pyrrha hesitantly asked.

"My sister…. Mordred." He started getting confused looks from his friends.

"The Crimson King?" Weiss asked getting a nod at his sister's nickname. Some would wonder why king and not queen, but it was something his sister had said. That she was the king after decimating the last Vital Festival she won. "What's she got to do with anything?"

Pyrrha was a bit worried for her leader, he had told her about the fight the two had fought but not the details of how it happened.

"Like most, I looked up to my sister, she was everything I wanted to be as a hunter, strong, confident and had a way of leading people. She was the one I wanted the respect of the most when I was younger." He remembers following her around like a lost puppy. Promising to one day surpass her but she always brushed him off with a smirk and 'try your best squirt.' "she was the prodigy I wanted to be, and when I got Excalibur, I started to improve, fast. By the time I turned 17 a few months ago I had already caught up to her skill level at that age, and she started to worry."

"Why was she worried?" Nora asked with confusion.

"My sister is a powerful and prideful person. Out of our whole family, only our mother is stronger than her, and that's only due to all the years of experience she has over her. My sister was slated to stand at the top of our family, on track to not only become the strongest of us but also the leader of our family. Until I drew this." He told them holding up Excalibur.

Ren rose an eyebrow in question, "Why is that?"

"Because this isn't just any sword, it's the sword of the FIRST Arc, more specify the Main weapon of the first Arc as she had two other weapons, a sword she lost in her youth but was found and returned to the family later in life and a lance that was passed down along with Excalibur."

"But why is Excalibur so important?" Yang asked not understanding, but another question enters her mind, "Wait did you say 'she'?"

"Yep, the first Arc was a woman, and the reason Excalibur is so important is due to the connection it had with her. Over the generations both the lance and the other sword have been used a few times by different Arcs, my Mother and Youngest Sister being the current holders of the lance and sword respectively. But Excalibur has never been held by another Arc except the first." He explained getting more shock from his friends, to have not been used for what could be thousands of years was shocking, to say the least, it took them a few moments to understand the significates of what it meant to wield the sword.

"You're the first…" Pyrrha whispered getting a nod from Jaune.

"The first Arc since the first to ever hold Excalibur. It was with this sword she fought back against the Grimm and created one of the first Kingdoms on Remnant, it said then whenever she wielded the sword that victory was all but guaranteed." He told his friends getting awed looks on the sword.

"Sounds awesome! Where can I get one?" Nora asked vibrating in her seat in excitement.

Jaune chuckled at her excitement. Ruby looked to be vibrating speeds unobtainable without her semblance, it was quite funny to see. "There are few are stories about where it came from, but we're not sure where it exactly came from. The most well know is The Sword in the Stone, that it was placed there by the Brother of Light and that whoever drew it was the true king of humanity. Another is like with the Armory that a wizard forged the sword and passed onto the strongest warrior to help vanquish the Grimm."

"Really? Aw, I wanted to make Crescent Rose with that metal." Ruby wined hoping to know how the blade was made. If a God created the sword, she couldn't use the techniques or metal for Crescent Rose, which kind of sucked.

"Ok, so Excalibur is an important weapon. But what's that got to do with your sister?" Blake asked.

Taking a second to start Jaune began, knowing it all came to this, "It was about a month before Beacon started. I was training with my sisters and Mother when after winning against Jeanne, my Mother gave me something that was meant for my sister."

Everyone was wondering what it could be, Pyrrha was the one to ask. "What did she give you?"

"A Sheath."

* * *

 **One month before Beacon**

 **(Camelot)**

 _The day was like any other in the Arc household, the sky was mostly clear, a few clouds dotted the sky, but for the most part, the sun shone down on the training grounds of the Arc Keep. About as large as Beacons Auditorium not much filled the area, only the large circle stage a few feet of the ground and seating that surrounded it, a large screen lay on the cliff face that took up the western wall._

 _*buzz*_

" _And that's the match" A young looking Woman called from the side of the stage. While most would think she was in her Thirties given her youthful look, but she was in fact just in her fifties. Clade in just her under armor she watched as her two middle Twins move off the stage. One the left was Jaune, Excalibur in hand while to his side limping was his twin sister Jeanne who was using her weapon for support since she kept denying her twin brother's offer for help._

 _Artoria could only smile as the two made their way over to her, it was great to see Jaune finally started acting like himself again. It pained her to think about all the ups and downs her son has had to go through in his short life, it seemed he just couldn't catch a break having spent years being the black sheep of the family. She hated herself for not better treating her son and giving him the support he needed. She had planned to change that, but it seemed fate had other plans as he was gifted with Excalibur. It honestly shocked her to see her son with the legendary sword having been told of its legacy and how no one had ever wielded it after the original owner passed from this world. It was indeed a happy time for him and the family, but like most of his life, his new happiness came at a cost, he lost his relationships with his former friends._

' _Well, friends and stalker more like' she hissed to herself remembering her son's former 'love interest,' just thinking of the little witch boiled her blood but she let it slide. She had moved to Mistral with the others, and hopefully, that would be the last time she interacted with her son like that. Moving on from that, the loss of his friends really affected him, and she was worried he would once again fall into depression. Luckily most of his sisters were able to support this and keep him afloat, the only ones not to where Atalanta but the family knew she was just putting on an act for her big brother. She found it adorable to see her act with distance given how much she used to cling to him in her youth, but sadly her rebellious phase has started, so it's to be expected._

 _The other however worried her as it seemed Mordred had started to grow distant to her brother and she knows it's her fault, ever since Jaune obtained Excalibur she had started thinking of the family's future, the fact Excalibur is once again wielded may mean something is coming in the near future. She just hoped the choices she made in hopes of better preparing her son had not damaged the relationship the two had. But it seemed fate would once again take its toll on the young male Arc._

 _"MOTHER!" Mordred's voice yelled as she stormed into the grounds, her armor coving her body as well as her weapon Clarent, held in her hand. While Jeanne and Jaune jumped at the anger in their sister's voice, their Mother only looked on with a cooled expression. She had expected something like this given how hot-headed her oldest daughter was, but she had hoped for it to happen after Jaune was away at Beacon._

" _Mordred, I'm surprised to see you home so soon, I expected you not to be back until some time next month given you were on a mission in Vacuo for the time. What brings you home so soon?" she asked hoping to calm her down before something happened, but it seemed Mordred was having none of her games._

" _You know what brings me home!" she screamed throwing a letter on the ground in front of her, Artoria didn't blink seeing the letter knowing she sent it out a week ago, she's more surprised to see it delivered so fast, cursing slightly that it was a fast delivery for once. Locking eyes with her daughter, she could see the anger and betrayal that filled them causing her own to soften up._

 _"Mordred, I know you're angry, but you have to understand, this is what's best for the family." She tried to explain, but the anger in Mordred's eyes only grew hotter with each word._

 _"Best for the Family!? How is letting HIM be in charge better than me?! I've trained all my life for this, and you're just going to give it to that failure?!" she cried pointing her sword at Jaune who jumped in surprise at having the blade pointed at him. Artoria scowled at seeing her point her weapon at Jaune._

" _Watch what you say Mordred, and stop pointing your sword at him, he had no part in the decision."_

" _What's going on?" he asked drawing the two's attention. Artoria's eyes softened seeing his and Jeanne's worried looks, they didn't know what had caused Mordred's anger had they shouldn't have to suffer it, especially Jaune. Mordred didn't pay her little sister much attention as her eyes glared at Jaune with a hatred he had never seen on her face before, and it scared him._

" _Actually, Jaune you can help me prove a point. Get on the stage." She told him getting a shocked look from him and his sisters and an angry look from their mother._

" _Mordred! I won't allow you to- "_

 _"Stay out of this hag. If he's so great he can prove it!" he yelled back as she moved to the one side of the ring while Jaune moved to the other._

 _"It's ok Mom, I recovered my Aura, so I'm alright to spar, we haven't done so in a while, so I want to see how far I've come against her," Jaune called out with a smile as he starred his sister down. Artoria wanted to intervene, there was more to this than a simple spar, but Jaune didn't know what. She planned to tell him before he left for Beacon in a few weeks while Mordred was still away but it seems when she heard the news, she rushed back home to confront her, but it appeared Jaune had been dragged in like she feared. 'Please don't do something you'll regret Mordred.' She prayed as the two squared off._

 _"Don't worry brat, all you got to do is take a beating to prove your still too weak for Mother to realize her mistake, then you can go back to being to scraping the bottom like before." Mordred sneered, confusing and slightly angering Jaune. Mordred had been acting strangely around his for a while now, but he didn't know where this anger was coming from._

" _What are you talking about?" he asked getting into his stance, Excalibur held in front of him. Mordred looked confused before she scowled again._

" _Didn't Mother tell you?" she asked as she shot their mother a glare, which she returned._

" _Tell me what?" he once again asked confused by the sudden tension between his sister and mother, whatever it was seemed to involve him in some way._

 _"Wow, you don't even know, given how important it is I'm surprised mommy dearest hasn't told you, but given how slow you are it's not surprising, it just proves how unfit you are for the role." She scoffed out as she glared at him in disdain._

" _What the hell is wrong with you?! What did I do to piss you off?!" he yelled back in anger, not liking how she was belittling him all of a sudden. Mordred just scoffed in return as she held her sword up._

 _"It doesn't matter after I put you back in the dirt, we'll be back to how it used to be." She told him as the metal on the back of her armor moved around allowing a helmet to morph around her head giving her a more intimidating look. Seeing his sister get serious he activated his aura given the flash of white around his body as the two siblings face off._

 _"What's this about Mother?" Jeanne asked as she watches worried for both her sibling, she too didn't know where Mordred's anger was coming from, but it seemed their mother did._

 _"I'm sorry Jeanne, but it seemed I've done something that may have ruined the relationship between your Brother and sister." She told her as she watches with worried eyes as the two waited to start. It was clear now she should have put more thought and time into this, but it was too late now, and Jaune would pay the price._

 _They stood there for a few more moments before Mordred made the first move, rocketing herself towards Jaune with a broad swipe, Jaune barely had time to block the strike, his legs buckled under the strain of the hit._

' _she's using her semblance?!' his panicked mind cried as she spun around and crashed her foot into his stomach causing him to spit up some blight and be launched back across the stage. Bouncing a few times, he managed to correct himself and stand, breathing heavy as his aura flashed over his body, repairing and damage he took. Glancing to the screen, he saw that one hit took 5% of his aura and given how much he had that was a lot. 'What the hell?! She's never used her semblance before, why now?!' he asked himself as she brought his breathing under control, 'forget a spar I better try not to lose a limb.'_

 _"Aww wants the matter, little knight, having trouble?" Mordred taunted getting a scowl from Jaune, taking slight enjoyment in his suffering, she always enjoyed a good fight but enjoyed overpowering her foes more, she liked to crush them under her foot, and Jaune was the target of her current irk._

 _"I'm fine," Jaune growled getting back into his fighting stance. He wanted to prove he could face her, but Jaune had never been able to land a hit and was sad he couldn't do so before Beacon but this was his chance, he would not let it pass. "Come on sis or is that the best you got."_

 _His taunt was only meant to be playful banter, but it only angered her as she quickly dashed into his personal space, but this time, Jaune knew her semblance was in play. Falling backward to dodge the horizontal swing he kicked up into his sister's chest but she easily avoided. Now in a back spot, he had very little room to move when Mordred stabbed towards his chest, knowing he had no way to move his chest he kicked off the ground, throwing himself onto his back, dodging the hit but in doing so slammed his back into the ground. Gronning in pain Jaune quickly rolled back onto his feet to meet his sister head-on as she once again dashed towards him. The two clashed blades as they fought for dominance, Jaune using his large size and weight to hold his own against his sister, but even when he put all his weight into his sword, she didn't budge._

" _Is this the best you have? Pathetic!" She commented as she watched her brother struggle to hold her back, "If this is all you may as well give up." She told him, Jaune was going to fire a comment back but when a rush of red lightning coved his sister's arms he eyes widened in fear as she started pushing him back. This was why his sister was so strong, while she and their Mother shared the same Semblance his sister had a more advanced version. There Semblance was Aura Burst, and it allowed them to store Aura in their body and limbs and expel it in large quantities to give them a burst of speed and power, the one difference, however, is that his sister could infuse dust with hers while their mother couldn't. "Get ready Jaune, this is gonna hurt." She hissed as she broke the lock and slammed her sword into his gut causing him to gasp in pain._

 _While he wanted to curl up in pain, he was too busy blocking his sister's next attack to pay attention to his bruised stomach. Left, right, above, bellow she just kept swinging, smashing Excalibur away with her strength and landing cuts all over his body as he desperately tried to hold her off. Jeanne watched in horror as her older sister continued to destroy her twin in the battle, it was clear Mordred was trying to seriously injure Jaune, and his aura was draining fast, much faster then she had ever seen it. One of her hits must have done some severe damage to cause his aura to continuously deplete like that._

" _We have to stop this! Jaune going to get hurt at this rate!" she cried as she turned to her mother who watched the battle with rapped attention. "Mother you have to stop Mordred before something happens, please!" she begged, but her mother didn't move an inch._

 _"He's getting faster." Artoria suddenly said getting Jeanne's attention. Turning back to the fight she looked closely at her twin. It was only slightly at first but the more she watched, the more he started to match his sister's blows, blocking and dodging more instead of getting hit. She was confused at first, but after a few more moments his aura started to appear over his body, the soft white glow soon covered most of his form as he started to match his sister. "Is this..." she whispered as her eyes widened, how could they not when something happens to her when she uses her semblance._

 _"Indeed, it seems he finally unlocked it," Artoria said with a smile._

 _Back to the fight, the tides had started to change as the two combatants began clashing blades blow for blow, while Jaune was covered in cuts and bruises and Mordred didn't have a scratch on her neither had been able to hit the other for a few moments now with shocked Jaune and infuriated Mordred._

' _I'm matching her? Is this my semblance? What can it- No, focus, I can hit her now, I WILL HIT YOU!' Jaune thought to himself as he started putting more power into his hits._

' _What the hell is happening!? He's getting stronger! How is this- His semblance, he's unlocking it now of all times! I won't allow you to show me up you little brat!' Mordred yelled in her head putting more powering into her own semblance as she moved to overpower him._

 _With his newly awakened semblance Jaune started to try and overpower his sister, stepping away from their last clash he started going on the offensive having been stuck on the defensive since the start, but now he could fight back. Dashing into her personal space similar to how she had done to him at the beginning, Jaune brought Excalibur up into a swing which she blocked, as his sword moved above them Mordred brought her own across his chest but Jaune matched her speed by bringing his down to meet it. Clashing again Jaune quickly pulled his sword back and tried to stab his sister in the head, letting one hand go of her sword she side-stepped the attack and using her one had swung at Jaune's side. Stepping to the side away from the oncoming swing he turned his body to pull Excalibur in front of himself blocking the swing, the power behind the swung even with one hand caused him to gain some air, and he was knocked back with Excalibur held across his body. But when his feet hit the ground, he buckled._

 _Time seemed to slow down as Jaune started falling, Jeanne's eyes widened in horror, their Mother's doing the same but more in surprise as he landed okay, but she guessed his semblance had hit its end. For Mordred, a vicious smirk made its way onto her face. She pumped a large about of aura into her whole body, red lightning cracking across her frame and she dashed after her brother, bring her sword back in a haymaker swing she looked into the wide eyes of her younger brother with glee._

' _I'VE WON!'_

 _She swung her sword at his neck, while his aura would mean he survived it would no doubt brake and leave him injured for a long time. But she didn't care, she just wanted to crush him. But as her blade neared his neck, he was gone. Shocked she turned her head to see him standing next to her, aura flashing white as he brought his own sword towards her body. She had no way to dodge having over-committed to the swing, something she knew better than to do, but in her angered stated she wasn't thinking right, and it dawned on her want happened, 'a faint!'_

 _Jaune knew he couldn't match his sister in skill so in a moment of pure instinct decided to try a faint by bucking his feet. While an obvious faint it was clear Mordred wasn't thinking straight, and he hoped she would mess up, and she did. Seeing her overcommit, he quickly brought his legs under himself and ducked her full swing, now clear of danger and having her on the back foot Jaune focused his aura into his arms and Excalibur itself and swung at her with all his strength, praying he hit._

 _And hit her he did, with a resonating clang Excalibur buried itself into Mordred's side, the screech of metal filled the air, and it pressed along the red and silver armor. Mordred let out a cry of pain as she was launched across the ground when Jaune finished his swing, tumbling for a few feet she caught herself in a hunch as she tried to catch her breath, Jaune doing much the same due to adrenaline._

 _The room was silent apart from the two's heavy breathing, no one could quite understand what had happened, not believing such a thing could happen. Artoria was the only one to every hit Mordred in the last few years, not even Mordred's twin could do so anymore even with such an overpowered semblance as she had but to see Jaune be the one to hit her with only about two years of training was unreal._

 _Jaune was the most shocked of all, he hit her, HE HIT MORDRED! While he was aching all over and his aura was almost depleted, around 12% if he had to guess he had finally done it. After so many years chasing after her, to finally land a solid hit was the greatest achievement of his life so far. While only a single hit today could be 10 or a 100 in a few years and eventually he could win!_

" _You…" The growl from Mordred's drew everyone's attention. She stood opposite Jaune and like the others was shocked about him landing an attack on her. But while the others were in awe at the achievement, Mordred was livid._

" _YOU LITTLE SHIT!" she screamed as she blurred in front of Jaune, unable to react he could only cry in pain when Clarent ripped across his chest, flinging him backward into a roll. Standing as quickly as possible he flung Excalibur up into a block when Mordred appeared in front of him once more in an instant, it was clear now she wasn't holding back and was now using her full speed, something the 17-year-old could not hope to match._

" _You think just because you have that sword your now some hot shit?! Without that sword, you would be nothing!" She continued to yell while she pushed Jaune back more and more, Jaune himself was in tremendous pain, and it wasn't leaving, if the blearing alert of low aura was any indication, his aura might just be gone as is._

 _"I've trained all my life to get to where I am now, and you think you can just take wants MINE?!" she continued coming in with a full uppercut that met Jaune weak guard. The force behind the swing sent Jaune flying onto his back and Excalibur into the air where it stabbed into the grown behind the downed boy, Mordred staked closer to Jaune as he withered on the ground, pain coursing through his body. When she finally got close enough, she pointed her weapon at his neck while the helmet on her head retracted allowing him to see the anger and fury in her eyes as she glared down at him._

" _A weakling like you doesn't deserve that sheath."_

" _ENOUGH!"_

 _The scraping of metal rang out with a cry, standing before Jaune was the matriarch of the Arc family, Artoria, a large lance held in her hands that was currently holding Clarent away from her son. The large lance was his mother's weapon, and it once shared the same original owner as Excalibur, Rhongomyniad._

 _"You've gone too far in this Mordred, stand down now, or I will show you why I still hold the title of strongest Arc alive." Her commanding voice boomed as her cold eyes stared into Mordred's heated ones. While Mordred would like to challenge their mother, she knew she was still too weak to defeat her, at least for the moment._

 _Growling in anger before scoffing Mordred eased up and stepped away from her mother, shooting Jaune one last glare she turned to leave the area, seeing no point in staying, she, however, didn't go without speaking one last time._

 _"Fine, we both know that will change soon, and if I were you, I'd not bother with him, he's only going to end up burdening us like he always has, having a sword or not doesn't change the fact he's a failure." With her piece said she left the room in silence. Jeanne ran over to see if Jaune was alright and was in the prosses of using her semblance to boost his healing._

 _While Jaune was in pain physically the emotional pain of her words cut far deeper than any of her blows, he had hoped by hitting her it proved that he could stand with her, that he was worth something, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. While he wondered why that was, it was clear to him something had happened. What she had said to him before their mom intervened gave him a clue, looking at his mother who had turned to see how he was doing he asked her what Mordred meant._

" _What did Mordred mean by 'not worthy of the sheath'?"_

* * *

"A Sheath? That's it?" Yang said throwing her hands in the air, she was expecting a crown or something cool like that, but a sheath?

Jaune just rolled his eyes at Yang's tantrum, he kind of expected this given how much of a build-up his story had generated but it was slightly annoying to hear her dismissal of something so important to his family.

"The Sheath was also the first Arc's. After she passed away and it became clear that none of her children could wield Excalibur, the sheath became the symbol of Leadership for the family. whenever the current leader Arc passes away or retires, they pass on the sheath to their eldest child thus making them the new leader of the family." He explained getting an "Oh" of understanding from Yang and his friends, it was Weiss who finally understood why his sister was angry.

"That's why Mordred was angry with you. Your mother gave this sheath to you instead of giving it to her, the eldest child. But why did your mother do that? Why give it to you?" she asked, eyes narrowed in question. If what Jaune said was true then like her, he was the next in line for his family, but while her older sister gave up the position, Jaune's sister had it ripped away.

Hearing her question, his eyes fell to his sword, his movement drew everyone else's eyes, and they were quick to understand. "The sheath was made specifically for Excalibur, the first Arc made it herself using an extremely rare metal as well as forging it with her aura so that it would be perfect for the sword. It's why my mother passed it to me instead of my sister, to reunite the two together."

"Where is it then?" Nora asked suddenly with a confused look, "If this sheath is supposed to go with your sword then why isn't it here?"

"I left it at home." Jaune answered, "It's part of the reason I didn't use Excalibur when I first came to Beacon. While I was overjoyed to get Excalibur ever since I got it, I lost just as much as I gained. After losing my only friends and after what my sister had said to me, to be offered the next seat of the Arc family line felt wrong. I didn't deserve any of it, the power or position. I felt I hadn't proven I was worthy of both Excalibur and Avalon." He stated, his voice cracking slightly, the pressure of his new importance in the family was a shock to the young Arc, he had spent his whole life as an afterthought in the family, loved but not a priority. To suddenly have so much placed on his shoulder it had not only pushed him to quickly improve but had caused him to drive those important to him away.

"I thought if I could get through Beacon without them, I could prove that I was worth something. But I was a hypocrite, trying to save my small ego in the face of my friend's abandonment and sister's taunts. In the end, all it did was led to you guys being in danger when I could have done a better job but was too scared to do so." Jaune finished not meeting his friends' eyes, he was ashamed of himself for what he had done and was scared he had once again ruined his relationships.

The room was quiet for a few moments until Jaune heard shuffling he didn't lift his face to see who it was but after a few moments a pair of arms wrapped around his body. Looking up his eyes meet the warm emerald of his partner who smiled gently at him.

"It not your fault Jaune, you spent so long not having a weapon of your own that when you finally got one, you felt it was an undeserved privilege instead of a birthright. You can't be blamed for wanting to catch up with your family after spending so long in their shadows. As for your friends, I'm sure one day you'll make it up to them." She told him with a smile. Hearing her work, he could only return the smile and hug her back, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer the two enjoyed the hug taking comfort in each other.

"Thanks, Pyrrha."

"No problem Jaune."

The moment was broken when Nora cheered and tackled the two in a big hug. "Don't worry fearless leader, Team JNPR will live FOREVER!" she proclaimed crushing the two in a bear hug, but they could only laugh along with her. Ren soon joined the group but didn't join the hug, he gave Jaune a pat on the shoulder and nodded in agreement, Jaune was having none of that and pulled the quiet member of the team into the group hug much to Ren's amusement and annoyance.

Team RWBY just watched on with smiles of their own, happy to see how close their sister team was given their short time at Beacon. While they werea annoyed with the blond member for holding out on them and lying somewhat, they could see he was going to be coming clean with them, he had told them quite a bit of personal information so they could at least give him a chance to prove himself.

"Aww, I'm so happy for you guys! I call for a team RWBY group hug so that we may show how close we are!" Ruby cried out, happy to see Jaune get so much and was excited to see how he fought with Excalibur in a more controlled environment, she was sad to learn he didn't know how Excalibur was forged, but maybe this special sheath could give her some ideas.

"No"

"Nope."

"Sorry, sis."

Hearing her teams' responses Ruby deflated, it seemed her team still had some kinks to work out before they could have the whole group hug moment, but soon it will happen. Feeling a pair of arms around her, she looked up to see Jaune smiling down at her. She smiled and hugged back.

"Thank you, Ruby, you've been a good friend, and I promise I'll look to see if I can find anything about our weapon when I have a chance to get home deal?" he told her getting a happy nod in return.

"Thanks, Jaune, and don't worry Team RWBY will be there for you if you ever need it." She told him with a giant smile as the two broke the hug.

"And mines there for you If you need us." He replied, happy to know he hadn't messed up like before and was glad to have the truth out there. Telling them had lifted a huge weight off his shoulder and he hoped from now on things would be looking up for both himself and his friends.

* * *

 **And that's Chapter 8, I hope you all enjoy.**

 **We had some emotions in this chapter with Jaune telling his Origin story along with some potential history for Excalibur, we may learn which one is true, we may not, we will have to wait and see, speaking of Excalibur, Avalon and its importance has been revealed, I had the idea of Avalon being a sort of symbol of leadership for the Arc's early on, while Excalibur is famous for this concept I felt it would work better for Avalon in this story. I can already hear the question; does Avalon heal people? You may ask, you'll have to wait and find out.**

 **I also hope I did a better job with the fight in this chapter, there are still parts I want to improve in the future but I hope I did a good job this time. He also got some more from Jaune's sisters and Mother in both personality and semblances, not much but don't worry we'll be seeing them a lot more in the future, near and far.**

 **I Hope you all have been having a good first month of 2019, it's hard to imagen a whole month is already gone. I've been spending the last week playing Resident Evil 2: Remake and it's been a blast. I've only done Leon A at the moment but I've done it a few times now even getting an S+ rank and I'm working in doing Clare's now. My sister has also just finished with Kingdom Heart 3 so I'll be starting that soon as well, can wait to start screaming them Disney songs aloud.**

 **Now let's get onto people's questions.**

 **AnimeA55Kicker –** While the spar was in a flash back, I hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter will have some sparing between JNPR and they will want to see what Jaune is truly made of. As for Mana Burst as you can see, I've made it into a semblance for both Mordred and their Mother, while Jaune can get the same results it's more a something he has to train himself to do and not something he can just do like his sister and mother.

 **Dxhologram –** For Avalon the location, I don't have any plans for it to show up in the future but who knows, I may come up with something later down the line. Don't worry, the next few chapters will be focused on team JNPR and what they will be doing during the Vol 1 finale and the romance wouldn't get going until sometime in Vol 2, maybe a hint here or there but not full on yet.

 **Rider126 –** I do what to add Achilles in at some point, I even have a semblance thought up for him already. I'm just not sure where I want him, I don't want to make him Pyrrha brother, maybe a cousin to explain the different looks or maybe a mentor? I'll look into it more.

 **Metastable -** I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN NOW! Yeah, I get what you mean, since most of them are related it will just be them taking after their mother more and Jaune taking a bit more from their dad.

 **2301 –** Soon.

 **Ludatio –** Thank you, I'm glad you like the changes I made, I'm current trying to think of how to do the Breach given how much stronger I've made them but that's a problem for a few months away.

 **Giuseppe –** I hope I did a better job this chapter, I'll be improving as I write more so look forward to that.

 **StarGazer2326 –** Merlin, maybe. Le Fey, I have other plans.

 **That's it for this chapter, be well and look forward to next chapter!**

 **Here's looking at you, Malluk**


	9. Chapter 9 - Moving Forward

**Hey, Malluk here with chapter 9 of Knight of Hunters!**

 **Sorry, this chapter took a few days more than usual, I usually aim for around 2-3 weeks between chapters leaning more for 2, but I had some trouble with this chapter when it came to what to write, and It took me a few days to fill in some of the gaps. As a result, I feel this chapter is a lot weaker than recent ones which I've been quite proud of.**

 **But don't let that discourage you, I've tried my best to make this chapter as entertaining as any other I've written, I just feel the first half is a lot weaker than the second, but I hope you all still enjoy this chapter!  
**

**RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay Night is the property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting, only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Please support the original products.**

 **Edited by: M.H. Pintner**

XXX

Chapter 9

 _Moving Forward_

After Jaune came clean to his friends about his past and about his connection to Excalibur things returned to normal for him and his friends. When word got out about Team CRDL's expulsion, a wave of happiness swept over the school. While they weren't the only bullies in the school, they were the most notorious and to hear they had been kicked out, let's just say the number of reports about bullying soon dived to an all-time low. The people whose mood improved the most were the Faunus of Beacon who were all too happy to show their enjoyment of their tormentors' fates. And with their removal, things at Beacon soon turned its original purpose with students going about their classes and growing to become hunters.

Jaune, like many of the others, was clearly happier than before. With the guilt of lying to his friends lifted he soon started showing a more confident side to himself, he would joke with Yang, shooting back at his fellow blond now and again but even his new confidence didn't stop him from becoming a blushing mess from her teasing.

Speaking of the blonde bombshell, Yang had approached Jaune a few days after his confession, wanting to learn more about his family and the two soon spent the next few hours discussing the highs and lows of their families.

She had learned about his seven sisters and what they were all like and it was clear she wanted to meet his older sister's Nero and Tamamo, given the teasing smirk that she gained when he told her about their past exploits at his expense. Jaune could only dread what would happen if they ever met in person, knowing they would meet eventually, he just hoped it was in the far future. He, himself had learned about her and Ruby's Father who apparently, he looked quite alike, Jaune would have to ask his dad if he had a brother, he never told him about, but he dropped the thought given how many other blondes are out there.

Glynda had been mistaken as an Arc numerous times in the past since she shared the same hair and eye color with most of the females in the family, so it wasn't fair to think that of Yang's dad. The other person she talked about was her 'awesome' Uncle Qrow, who apparently taught Ruby how to use a scythe and was a professional Huntsmen. He sounded like a cool guy if you ignore the extensive drinking he apparently did, the blonde knight remembered his Father coming home grumbling about a 'drunken crow' causing trouble once when he was younger but shrugged it off. Yang didn't mention her or Ruby's mother and was interested to know about them, but given it appeared a touchy subject decided not to pry.

For the quiet member of the bumblebee pair they would spend most of their time together discussing books, it had been very awkward the moment when he got a look at the 'books' she enjoyed. It was hard to tell who was redder at that moment given the steam shot out of both Jaune's and all four of Blake's ears. Luckily, they were in the library at the time, and no one was around to see. Jaune almost had a heart attack given how familiar he was with the book line and did his best to not hint at that fact, luckily Blake was to embarrass herself to notice. It was soon that the topic changed to Blake's own secret given Jaune had hinted at it the first night in the ballroom. She asked him how he was able to come clean like he did, wanting to know how he was able to overcome his fear of rejection.

Blake almost turned on the boy herself when he first started talking about how he lied to them. She had been hurt in the past by people holding secrets from her and was afraid the blonde leader was going to be like all the other liars, but when she gave him the chance to explain himself, she became ashamed at her quick dismissal of him. This had caused her own fears to grow with the hypocritical thought and was now worried if she came out to her friends about her heritage, they would judge her without any explanation.

Jaune had tried his best to ease Blake's worries, explaining how in the end, it was a leap of faith she had to take like he did and believe their friends were better than to jump to conclusions. He used the fact they did it for him as an example, joking how compared to what he did, it couldn't be much worse. If only he knew how bad it truly was. After a long talk, she decided she would come clean to her team at the end of semester given it was fast approaching and saw it as the best time to do so given how busy it was getting with lessons. She wouldn't tell them about the Fang, not yet, but she had a feeling she would grow to trust them enough one day.

Weiss had been most interested in the Arc's past and how the family came to be and had sought him out in hopes of learning more. Jaune was happy to tell her about some of his family's history, having a great interest in the subject. His hours spent in the family library allowed him to recall many of the events and past heroes in the family. Weiss soon learned Jaune was a better storyteller then Professor Port, he likes to build suspense and always gave enough details to be interesting but not too much to be boring, answering any questions she may have had when learning about the ancient family.

It was surprising to herself with how enraptured she was in his storytelling that she had forgotten to do her homework that evening. She had rushed to finish it dragging Jaune along given he had also been unable to do his own. When they had shown up looking worn out with disheveled clothing late at night to the worried faces of their partners' they had been ashamed. But when the two worried read heads had seen Jaune and Weiss' state of dress their worried expressions had soon chanced red much to the two's confusion. When they asked and gotten a talking to about doing R-rated things at school, they too had both turned into blushing messes themselves. Both were clear that such an event had not taken place between the two and were both adamant in saying no such relationship was happening between the two. They had both missed the jealous and relieved looks at the news and promised each other they would discuss Arc family history only when they were both free and had nothing to do, and if they were out late together to message, so no such misunderstanding happened again.

Ruby not long after that night had soon appeared outside JNPR's room the next morning begging to see Excalibur and wanting to know about any other cool weapons the Arc's had, she also forced Jaune to promise to show her his family's armory someday. Jaune was a bit reluctant to let the short weapon fanatic examine his sword, but given he was on doctor's orders to not train for a week, he finally lamented in allowing her to examine the weapon with the promise of returning it as soon as she was done. The blonde had seen the girl's eyes sparkle with happiness before being crushed in a hug before being buried in a pile of rose petals as his fellow leader shot off to the forge to discover the blades secrets. After a few hours of cleaning up the rose petals and allowing the small amount of aura he lost from the hug to return, he decided to see what the young Rose was doing with his sword. 

When he entered the forge, he eyes shrunk in horror at seeing Ruby stalking close to Excalibur with a blow torch in hand. After screaming for her to stop he presided to lecture her on doing that to his weapon, sighting that she would never do it to her own. While sad at Jaune's anger and slightly disappointed in herself for going so far, she explains that no matter what she did she couldn't find anything out about how the sword was made. It had proven to be impossible to scratch or break in any way and in an attempt to crack what made the metal so strong, Ruby had resorted to some, 'extreme measures.' Jaune found her reasoning to be fair and knew when it came to the young Rose, she was quite overzealous when it came to weapons. He let it slide and instead offered to tell her about the weapons his family used instead. The smile he got in return was as pure as his younger sister's when their happy and it brought a smile to his own face, maybe he should call home? He hadn't since coming to Beacon and knowing his sister's they'd think something happened to him and send someone to find him. He hopped it was Jeanne and not one of his older sisters, he could do without the teasing or anger after such a tiring start to school.

His own team had become closer after his talk with them, and they had started spending even more time together. Nora was a lot more inclusive and always tied to get the team to spend time together. She had dragged Jaune off on a hunt for Grimm in the Emerald Forest after he had recovered, wanting to see how much better he was with Excalibur. Leading to both of them getting chewed out by Miss Goodwitch for the destruction they had caused, Jaune was annoyed himself but the joyful laugh Nora had been giving caused him to burst out laughing himself, much to Miss Goodwitch's annoyance.

Nora and Jaune had really started to grow close with Jaune acting more and more like an older brother and Nora like a sister to him, they would joke and play fight, help each other out when needed and even spending some quiet times together just talking. She had started confiding in her leader things even Ren didn't know. Given how most of the 'secrets' she had were in some way tied to the quiet member of the team, it was clear to him that the relationship he now shared with the energetic ginger was much different than the one she shared with the green ninja.

He couldn't help but smile at how happy she was whenever Ren was mentioned, and when she talked about him, it was easy to tell even for someone as dense as him to see she had affection for the boy, but given that they weren't 'together-together' he was going to keep quiet for now. He didn't expect to give the 'Big brother' treatment for a few more years, but given how close he was getting to Nora, he may have to have a talk with Ren in the future.

Speaking of his silent brother in arms, he and Ren had also grown somewhat close after the events around his weapon. Ren had proven to be a pillar for the young Arc male as much as Jaune was for him given their only other friends were all female. The two would spend time away for all the girls for what they called 'Man meetings' where they can just eat junk food and talk about movies and video games. Their partners never seemed to mind having their own growing sisterly bond, talking about their own thing with team RWBY joining in with them on some occasions leaving the two males to freely use JNPR's room as a hangout.

Yang had joked about the name of their time together, the smirk on her face and waging of her eyebrow keyed everyone into what she was hinting at. Given the slap to the back of her head Weiss gave her and the glares the two boys sent her way it was clear they didn't appreciate her comments. The sea of red faces she got for her fellow female, however, caused her to howl in laughter, it was clear both Nora and Pyrrha had some explicit images running through their head when they pictured the male pair. But the best reaction came from Blake, given she now had tissues covering her suddenly bleeding nose. After that the two vowed to mess with Yang given Ren's semblance and Jaune's it was easy to hide from the blonde and mess with her until she apologized, it was rarer to see Ren laugh so hard and be so petty, but it was a welcome change. Ren was starting to open up to him more in their talks that were funnily enough quite similar to his partners given how much the boy talks about the hyper redhead. Jaune had sure to note down getting rid of the 'not' part of 'together- together' and planned to recruit his own partner for assistance.

Speaking of his partner the two had become as close as friends could be soon after Jaune's conversion, and it was clear to see they enjoyed their time together. The two would always try to one-up each other in their jokes and frequently poked fun at each other's quirks whether it would be Jaune's fake bravado, or Pyrrha's continued apologizing. The two would spend a lot of time together and become somewhat of parents to the group of friends. Yang had jokingly called them mom and dad after one of her teases had turned both Ruby and Weiss the color of the leader's namesake and the same color as Pyrrha's hair. While Jaune had quickly tried to brush such comments of and go on to reprimand Yang with 'Aunty Weisscream' joining him they didn't notice Pyrrha being oddly quiet with her head down, her eyes casting quick glances to her leader they withheld both confusion and something else in them with Jaune sending his own when everything had calmed down.

Other times the two would travel to Vale to spend time together doing anything from movies to arcades, walks in the park and just shopping would take up the time they had together, Yang had, of course, had a field day when she learned of this. Along with spending time together somewhat of a rivalry blossomed between the pair in their playful arguing that soon bled over into combat as well.

It wasn't till a week after his talk with his friends that he could join in combat class as the school's doctor had forbidden him from doing any strenuous activities until he was fully recovered from his Aura Exhaustion. But when he was cleared, it just so happened to be the first Combat Class of the week.

XXX

It had been nearly two weeks since the Forever Fall incident with Jaune telling his friends about his past only a week ago after waking from his injuries. After telling his friends about his true weapon Excalibur. Ever since then they had been demanding to see what he could do, but under the doctor's order, he wasn't allowed to do so. Yang and Nora had tried to convince him to try anyway, but Glynda had soon threatened not only the girls but Jaune himself with detention if he dared to fight before he was given the clear.

Given how Yang and Nora had not spoken of it again for the following week proved how scary the Deputy Headmistress could be. But today was the day he could finally let loose and show everyone what he could truly do, and he would have to if he wanted to get his spot in the top 10 back.

Since Jaune had missed almost two weeks of combat class along with Team CRDL being kicked out of Beacon, the top ten had changed somewhat with three other students moving into the top ten. With Jaune's overall score falling behind them due to his absence and with two of CRDL being in the top ten before they were expelled, the spots had opened for others to move in. While at first crushed at learning he had fallen down the ranks he saw it as an opportunity to reclaim his status in the top ten, and this time he didn't plan on staying behind his friends.

"Good day students and welcome to today's Combat Class. First, I'd like to welcome back Mr. Arc who will be returning to class after his week of recovery. Since we missed a fight from you last week why don't we start off with you, is there anyone you would like to challenge?" Miss Goodwitch stated, the class had turned to look at Jaune who slightly shrunk at all the attention. While he didn't want people to know why CRDL were kicked out, Yang and Nora had been all but happy to tell people on how they had attacked Jaune and almost got him killed by drawing Grimm during their trip.

"I'd like it to be one of the top 10 ranked students please Miss Goodwitch," Jaune answered as he made his way down towards the armory but waited outside to see who it was he would be facing. Nodding towards him Glynda focused down on her scroll and with a few taps turned to the large screen behind her which held a portrait of Jaune on one side and another next to it as it swiftly rotated between the students with the highest ranks, more than half being his friends. After a few moments, it came to an end on distinctive amber eyes and black bow. Blake had been chosen as his opponent, the two combatants locked eyes and smiled at each other with a nod before Jaune continued into the armory with Blake soon following.

"So, Blake will be the first to face Jaune with Excalibur, I wonder how this will go?" Pyrrha said, crossing her arms with one hand up to her chin in thought.

"Well we don't know how well he fights with Excalibur, it will be quite interesting," Ren commented himself with Nora nodding viscously in agreement. They hadn't seen him fight in Forever Fall so had no idea how much better he was with the new sword, that having to wait the week for him to recover had caused all their excitement to fester, even if Ren's isn't as volatile as his partners.

"While I'm sure he will do better, Blake will be sure to give him a challenge," Weiss exclaimed with an air of confidence, even if she did see him kill such a strong Grimm, he had pushed his semblance to the extreme so in a more controlled environment he shouldn't be as much of a problem.

Before anyone else could speak both Blake and Jaune returned, for our two teams an air of excitement and anticipation soon enveloped them while the rest of the class perked up at the sight of Jaune with a different sword. While a few soon lost interests some in the crowd noticed he had a different air around him, and he was moving differently.

The two combatants soon stood opposite each other and drew their weapons, dropping into their ready stances. While Blake was slight crouch with one hand held out slightly in front of her while the other rested on the handle over her shoulder, it was Jaune's new stance that truly drew people's attention. The apparent reason being he didn't have a shield with him but was instead holding his blade in front of himself with two had. Those with keen eyes for combat noticed compared to the old sword and shield stance he was a lot more solid and comfortable in this stance, that got people to start paying extra attention, it was clear something was different about the Arc in front of them then the one from a few weeks ago.

"Are both combatants ready?" Goodwitch asked getting slight nods from both who had determined looks on their faces, both locked eyes and waiting for the start of the match. Rising her hand, she swiftly brought it down while she leaped back out of the ring.

"BEGIN!"

Blake was the first to move shooting off like a bullet drawing her blade, for the slower students she was a blur before leaping into a downwards swing, both hands now on her weapon's handle. While Blake was confident in her speed being in the top three in the class with her being close to Ren but nowhere near Ruby, she was sure her burst of speed would score her the first hit, imagen her surprise when Jaune's arm's blurred into a block, crashing with her blade. Wide-eyed at his display she was unable to react when he started pushing back flinging her back to her starting position, luckily, she caught up with herself and landed safely, but her eyes had narrowed, it was clear to her now Jaune was a different person and should be treated as a new threat.

Jaune had not looked away from Blake, ignoring the rising noise of whispers that had broken out after his block. He knew Blake could have moved faster then she did but also knew she would hold back even with his explanation of how much better he would be now that he held Excalibur. But saying and doing are two different things. So, using her first move to his advantage he displayed a new level of skill his friends had not seen him use and given the narrowed eyes he saw Blake give him, he was successful in his wake-up call. He tightens his grip; the real fight was about to start.

Both moved at the same time and clashed in the center of the stage. Jaune was clearly physically stronger than Blake, so she used his strength to her advantage allowing herself to be pushed back to gain distance before switching her weapon into pistol form and firing a few shots towards him, hoping to score some damage on his aura.

After seeing her weapon change, Jaune dashed towards Blake wanting to decrease the distance, even with a weapon swap he still did have a range option so needed to stay close. In his charge towards her, he used his sword to deflect a few of the bullets, with a few hitting to closer he got. He did not have the skills to deflect them all at such close range, but given how his aura bar hardly moved he wasn't worried. Unlike Blake who saw how ineffective her small caliber rounds were doing to her opponent.

The gap soon closed between then with Jaune swing towards her, while she was stepping back Excalibur still made contact but merely passed through her before she faded away indicating the use of her semblance. Knowing she now had the advantage Jaune kicked backward as fast as possible to hopefully get her in his line of sight once more and luckily, he did when in doing so avoided her attempt of striking from his side. Seeing her once more he quickly engaged again not wanting her to escape. With Jaune once again bearing down on her Blake was forced to dodge and block a few of his swing. After sidestepping one upward swing, she reached over her shoulder griping her sheath/cleaver and started attacking herself with her two blades hoping to overwhelm Jaune with the two half of her weapon and her greater speed.

Jaune didn't falter under her new assault blocking most of her attacks and striking at her limbs when she left herself open. While Blake was landing more hits than him, the attacks he fell had more weight behind them, and he was also armored while Blake was dress more for speed and movability. After a shot engagement, Blake once again used her semblance to gain distance, using the time away from Jaune to catch her breath and think of a new strategy. Glancing at their aura levels, she resisted the urge to cringe seeing herself just drop under the 50% mark of aura while Jaune sat around 75%. She resisted complaining about the boy's monster reserves even when she landed almost twice as many hits. The leader had a ridiculous amount of aura for a first-year student, being nearly double the next highest was Nora, who was also a wall of power herself and Yang being much the same. She had to be careful since she was on the lower end of her friends being only the 3rd lowest with Ren being the 2nd and Ruby having the least, but that could be explained with the age difference having more then she did at her age.

Sadly, her time was up, having been lost in her thoughts she didn't expect Jaune to have already cleared the new space between them and was forced into a sloppy block. Now being on the back foot she tried once again to use her semblence to disengage, but Jaune had clearly understood how it now worked and was soon upon her once more. Two nasty hits to her shoulder and waist causing her to drop her cleaver much to her panicked mind.

Jaune didn't let up on the poor girl with the loss of her weapon and was even more precise in his attacks now that she had lost a way to defend herself. Swinging harder than usual in his next attack, he battered her remaining weapon away leaving her defenseless. But given her semblance she could easily slip away, knowing this he shoulder-charged Blake, ramming his shoulder into her chest causing her to fall to the floor. Quickly bringing his weapon up to her neck he locked eyes with her deep amber with his determined blue. A few moments later Goodwitch called the match. Both took a releasing breath as the adrenaline left their body with Jaune moving Excalibur away from her, Jaune offered her a hand with she gladly accepted, collection her weapons they both stood at attention waiting for Goodwitch's assessment.

"An impressive match, the both of you. Jaune you show a great deal of improvement, but you still have to work on your speed and not leave yourself open so much, while you are armored it would be best to not take any unnecessary hits but overall a great improvement." She told the boy who just nodded with a small smile. "For you Miss Belladonna you used your semblance well. But as I'm sure you noticed, Mr. Arc was able to predict your movements at the end when you were panicked. Allowing him the victory, that with leaving yourself more open than usual it would have been best to stick with your usual Hit and Run tactics, even when your weapon proved ineffective at a range. Better to do little damage and save then be able to do more but at the cost of your own aura. Apart from that, an impressive display as usual." She finished getting a "Yes Miss Goodwitch" before dismissing them back to their seats and stating the selection of the next fighters.

Moving back to their seats Jaune almost bucked his legs with Nora lumped on him and held onto him like a sloth with stars in her eyes and a wide grin on her face. "That was Awesome! You totally kick Blakes' ass!" she cheered getting a nervous chuckle from Jaune and pout from Blake.

"It wasn't quite that…" Blake grumbled with crossed arms but sighed at seeing Nora ignore her. Jaune did send her an apologetic smile which she could only answer with her own. The fanus had underestimated him in the end still so she couldn't blame him given his position, she was sorrier for him than for herself. 

"Please, Nora. Anyway, that was a fantastic match Jaune, I'm so proud of you!" Pyrrha told him after sighing at Nora being her hyperactive self but couldn't help the radiant smile that came to her face at seeing his victory. Jaune could only smile at his teammates and Team RWBY, happy to see he was able to prove that he could fight at their level and was happy with all the praise he was getting but made sure to not let it go to his head, lest he ends up alone once more.

The rest of the class was spent talking about his and Blake's fight along with any other any of them took part in, and it stayed like this for the following lessons. The next few weeks didn't change much apart from it getting busier with the end of semester drawing closer as well as the Vytal Festal now being on the horizon. But apart from late night studies lessons and the few cases of sugar rush destruction form some of his friends not much happen in Jaune's life had become quite normal, and he hoped it stayed that way for the rest of the year, but like most roads in life there are a few bumps in the street.

XXX

For the next month life at Beacon continued with the first semester coming to an end in a few days much to the relief of its staff and students. A time to rest and relax before the upcoming influx of people from the other kingdoms and students who had been chosen to participate in this year's Vital Festival.

Today was Friday and classes had just finished for the week, Team JNPR had just arrived at their room and were changing out of their school uniform and getting changed into their combat gear, Jaune was the only one entirely changed with Ren almost finished himself, Pyrrha was currently putting her own armor on while Nora finished in the bathroom. A knock at the door drew their attention and Jaune being the only one fully dressed moved to see who it was. Upon opening, he came face to face with his fellow leader Ruby who smiling and greeted him with a "Hello Jaune!" Returning the smile, he returned the greeting.

"Hey Rubes, need something?" he asked with a tilt of his head, while he always enjoyed being around the slightly younger girl it was strange for her to just show up outside his dorm room, usually she just sends him a message unless she wanted something, often to hang out or for help with work. 

"Well my team was gonna head down to Vale, Weiss wanted to go check out all the new stuff for the festival, and I wanted to see if you all wanted to come." She told him with a smile, they had grown close over the weeks both individually and as teams and wanted to continue the trend by inviting his team.

While Jaune would usually be all too happy to spend time with his sister team as he is sure the rest of his team was, they already had plans for the afternoon. Giving her a sheepish smile Jaune answered. "Sorry Ruby, but we already had plans on heading to the training room for some team exercises, we want to work on our teamwork a bit more before the holiday and make sure we have no problems. Sorry." He told her, clearly apologetic with his answered but Ruby didn't falter she just nodded in understanding, being a leader herself she had to plan out any team training and meetings and knew they had to make sure they were ready.

"Don't worry about it Jaune, I'm sure we can have a look around another time. Good luck with your training," she told him before returning to her own room to gather her team. Jaune closed the door and turned to see Nora finally out of the bathroom and changed into her normal gear along with Ren and Pyrrha being in their own.

"You all ready to head over?" he asked getting nods of agreement and a cheer of excitement from Nora. Seeing this he reopened his door and started making his way towards the armory to gather their weapons. They had booked one of the training stages out for the afternoon and were planning on working in teamwork, both as a whole and as pairs. He learned that two on two and team battles only start in the second semester, wanting students to get used to combat class in the first and allowed Goodwitch to get a good idea of peoples battle power so she could better plan fights for the rest of the year.

"What was it Ruby wanted Jaune?" his partner asked as they drew closure to the armory to retrieve their weapons, she had herd the young reapers voice when Jaune answered the door but was too focused on getting ready to hear what was said and was curious to know what she had wanted.

"Her teams heading down to Vale to see all the stuff being put up for the Vital Festival, she asked if we wanted to come along, but we had the arena booked and with all the new students coming in it will be harder to book a room soon, so we should use that when their readily available." He answered getting a nod from the champion.

"Ooo can we head down and see the all the new stuff Fearless Leader?!" Nora's excited voice asked as she pulled her weapon from her locker, hearing a bunch of new stuff was happening in town got her excited, all the fresh food from different kingdoms and new people. She wondered if there was anything like the forever Fall sap she could use for her pancakes.

"We can head down tomorrow if we're all free Nora," Jaune answered with a smile given Nora pumped her fist in excitement as they entered the arena, they had booked that day. "All right let's get started with some rounds against some bots, we can work on our team coordination and crowd control." Jaune started with a stern voice going into what Nora and Ruby dubbed 'Commander mode.'

Ask his teammates made their way to the stage Jaune moved over to the control terminal and linked his scroll to it, selecting team mode he set up the combat scenario he wanted his team to handle. Like most combat schools training bots are used to help students refine their combat skills if they are alone or if they're going to work as a team. Jaune had set it up so a large group of the bots would appear and attack his team like a horde, the difficulty of the robot would only be around the same strength of a Beowolf. The difficulty could go up to that of an Alpha, but sadly only being a first-year, he wasn't allowed to set them above that of a common Beowulf or a handful of Ursas at best.

Entering the stage, he joined his team on one side of the area. Now that he had the scenario set, all he had to do was start it. But first, he wanted to set up the scenario with his team like it was a mission briefing, knowing from his father and mother that making sure everyone knew what was happening was the first step to victory.

"All right gather round guys, our mission today is to eliminate a horde of Beowolfs that are in the area. The number has been seen to be around 17, but the exact number is unknown. We will be fighting in an open space, so we have to be careful at flanks and being overwhelmed," Jaune told his group getting determent nods from both Ren and Pyrrha and a thumbs up from Nora. Shaking his head at her carefree attitude, he couldn't help but smile and draw his sword. "Alright, let's have me and Nora draw their attention and engage in close quarters, while Ren and Pyrrha give us supporting fire. If any get past Nora or me, Pyrrha you try to draw their attention to yourself while Ren, youn start using Hit and Run tactics, you're the fastest and most mobile so use that to pick off any easy targets and cover our back. If you start to get overwhelmed try and join up with your partner for support, is that understood?" he told them his game plan and got confirmation all around. Seeing this he opened his scroll and engage the combat scenario with lit up the screen above them with their aura and a 10-minute timer, written alongside them was 'HORDE MODE – BEOWOLF' indication what mission was activated.

Soon the panels in the floor lowed on the opposite side of the arena and a row of robotic Beowolfs rose to the surface, while they took on the shape of Beowolf, having the same skeletal structure the bodies were metallic white and had gaps at the joints where you could see mechanical part. A few years ago, Atlas developed mechanical Grimm that was programmed to work like the real thing. At first, there was an outcry for making machine versions of the Dark creatures, but from the support of the councils and all the primary hunter schools, they decided that only the Beacon, Mantle, Haven and Shade would be allowed the machines to help train students in fighting the Grimm in a safe environment. Having the robot Grimm proved effective in allowing more first years to get used to fighting the creatures, and the number of deaths in the first year dropped significantly leading to all the schools having funds out towards maintaining and creating the robot Grimm. While they have proved useful in training, only a few C-Class Grimm have been built along with a large number of D-Class as well such as the Beowulf variant Team JNPR now faced.

Standing at the ready with Jaune and Nora in the front with Ren behind them with Pyrrha, they watched as the eyes of the Beowolf lit up red similar to the creature they are based off, with a robotic howl the first wave of Robo-wolf charged the team.

"Nora!" Jaune called as he stepped in front of Nora. Nora understanding changed her weapon into a grenade launder before launching a barrage of explosions onto the charging Grimm taking a few out while the rest split up to avoid being taken out all at once. "Pyrrha, Ren!" He called next while Nora reloaded her weapon, seeing it took the most time it was best to use her massive firepower as an opener while the enemy still had to clear the distance and allow her time to reload. In this time Ren and Pyrrha could use their greater range to pick off more enemies while June stood in the front to engage the first to reach them. While a basic strategy it would work on most Grimm like this where they had room to exploit an enemy that needed to get closer, may as well hit them when they could.

Under the barrage of his teammate's fire more then half the Robo-wolfs had been damaged and were lying in the field while those who had survived the hail of bullets drew within range of Jaune, a few and dents in their armor but were still moving meaning they were still dangerous. The first to reach Jaune had a few bullet holes in its chest, having taken the end of Ren's last spray but was lucky to survive, but not for long as it leaped at the Leader, jaw open in hopes of biting into his neck. Sadly, it had left itself open allowing Jaune to swing across its neck and removing its head, stepping to the side he allowed its body to crumble to the floor before engaging the next one. Ducking under the swing towards his head Jaune spun on his heels in a circle bring Excalibur across its body cutting the new Robo-wolf in half.

Now that the robot Grimm had gotten close, the rest of JNPR and changed their weapons into melee mode with Nora jumping over Jaune and brining Magnhild down on a charging Beobot, caving its head in. Pyrrha was the next to engage with Miló is spear form, skewering the first Beo-bot she met on the end of her weapon. She fired the rifle to dislodge her weapon and giving her momentum to spin and decapitate a second one that was moving around to reach Ren, who like Jaune had ordered was raining bullets down on the growing number of Grimm bots. It was apparently more then Jaune had stated, having more than 15 currently trying to injure them with around 12 being defeated in the initial strike.

Now with Nora in front of him crunching any Beo-bot that got close, Jaune moved to better cover her. Dashing to the side where a group of Beo-bots was moving to get around the group he charged low swinging across their legs and managed to remove a limb from two of them. Stopping he did a short jump into the air spinning like a saw and removed the downed Grimm-bots head's, the three-remaining turned to face him with the first trying to swing at his side. Sidestepping, he brought his weapon up removing the offending arm before moving around its body leading to a second to accidentally hit the first while it tried to sneak up on him. Now with only two remaining, he brought Excalibur up to block the third and again to deflect its second swing. Cutting across its stomach, it wasn't deep enough to cut it in to, but it was still enough to eliminate it. Without stopping his swing, he hopped in the air as he turned to remove the head of the last Beo-bot that had recovered and moved to once again flank him, but before it could attack, he sliced off its head. Seeing he had eliminated the group, Jaune moved back to help his teammates.

While Jaune was busily coving one side of the group Pyrrha was covering the other, facing off against her own group. Meeting the first, she ducked under its swing attacking its joints with Miló in Xiphos mode, severing the wires that allowed it to move like tendons. The bot fell to its knees while Pyrrha used her shield to bash a second Beo-Bot that was to her left, following thought she cut across the second's neck, eliminating it and continuing her spin bringing Akoúo̱ across the kneeling Beo-bots head breaking its neck. With two down she saw five more grim-bots move towards her and readied herself. Changing Miló to rifle form and sheathing Akoúo̱, she used the time it took them to get close to target the heads and joints of the leading Beo-bots. Hitting the head of the first it crumbled to the ground while the ones next to it took a hit to the arms and chest but had survived the charged. Dodging past the first she engaged the second by spinning Miló into a spear and using the blunt end to smash into the bottom of its chin snapping its head back. With the one in front of her disorientated, she spun low taking the feet out of the one that had run past while drawing Akoúo̱ from her back and taking the one in front legs out as well. Spinning to stand, she blocked the third's attack while using her spear to strike at the fourths neck piercing it. Firing her weapon to destroy its head and giving her momentum she spun once again while morphing Miló into a sword and bringing it along the Third's chest, killing it.

With those two down, she looked to the two she had floored at the start of the engagement surprised they had not recovered and attacked her yet, but when she looked to see where they were, she spotted one had two large stab wounds in its chest while the other had a broken arm and caved in chest. It appeared Ren had moved forward to cover her while she was distracted and finished off the first two before moving over to support Nora. Who she could see was back to back with Ren, the two covering each other well with Nora using large swings to clear space and allowing Ren to pick a target and moving close to use Storm Flower to cripple limbs and rain bullets into the chests and heads of his targets. When they would switch, Nora would use her weapon to finish off any of the semi-busted Beo-bot Ren had left. With no way to move or slowed down from the injury, she would smash their heads and chests in before the next set moved closer, allowing her to show off some surprisingly fluid motion with her weapon. Nora would use the weight of her hammer to spin it around her body like an unstoppable force, never slowing down as she broke legs with low swing and heads with high. Whenever she had to dodge and block, she would use the long handle of the Warhammer to block and jab at enemies that had entered her guard, if not she would just punch and kick as well. While not as coordinated as her teammates who knew hand to hand styles, with her immense strength her hits did what they needed in creating space for Magnhild to be brought into play once more.

With the group back together on a few Beo-bots remained, only one for each of them. With Jaune meeting the first, he lunged along with the Beo-bot stabbing through its chest. When he pulled back the second jumped over the fallen body of the first, but Ren had done the same with Jaune who had dropped low allowing Ren to spring off his shoulder and deliver a devastating kick across its face that was now flying across the room. The remaining two were trying to overwhelm Pyrrha, but she held both off with Miló and Akoúo̱ blocking both sides.

"Pyrrha! Move!" Hearing Nora's cry, she disengaged and jumped back away from the pair, with the space made she watched as Nora passed her, Magnhild over her shoulder, ready for a massive swing.

"FORE!" With a cry she swung the mighty hammer, striking the back of the first sending it head first into the second. The metal ground under her swing and soon gave way leading to both Beo-bots exploding into parts and the torsos crumbled under strain. 

With the last two Grimm-bots destroyed an alarm rang out in the room alerting them that all the Grimm had been defeated. Jaune took a breath as he looked around the arena, he cringed seeing all the different part scattered around, but the dents in the floor from Nora's swings were worse knowing Glynda hatted having to repair the arena and knew he was in for a lecture because of it.

"That was Awesome! Let's go again!" Nora said, her weapon lying on her shoulder and she threw her fist into the air. She always enjoyed crushing the robots when she could, while crushing Grimm was more satisfying, the bots were the best Nora had unless she wanted to go down to the forest. But after Nora had gone alone one time and created a large crater in a part of the woods, she and been banned until she could show restraint. The mangled robot parts and holes in the floor show she still had to work on it.

"I don't think he will be able to do so again, we most likely used up all the ones we could in that one battle. I counted around 30 meaning we don't have any more for today." Ren answered, dusting off any dirt from his body and checking his weapon to see if the battle had done anything to them. While not a weapon fanatic like Ruby, he always made sure his weapon was in order after a fight. Past experiences had shown him he had to make sure his weapon was always in good condition.

"Ren's right, I put all our bots on at once. I wanted to see how we did, and I'm happy to see we did well, we covered each other well and controlled the space as well. We're gonna have to work on sticking together more and work on our defenses more now that I don't have a shield. While our offense has increased, our defense has lowered somewhat. I'm also gonna have to work with Pyrrha more now that our dynamic has changed now that its harder for me to cover her, apart from that Ren did well in covering you both and did great in working with you at the end Nora. Looks like we have some catching up to do partner." Jaune finished giving his assessment while looking towards the redhead who nodded in agreement, ever since he started using Excalibur his offense had gone through the roof but at the expense of his defensive capability, while he could block and deflect with the sword it took more skill to do so than with a shield. "I agree, we can work on your blocking and deflecting as well as modify how we fight together, now that we can't bunker with two shields we should look into a more offensive strategy when working together." She added getting a nod from Jaune.

"Indeed, we should also use our time here to work on our hand to hand, it would be a good idea to refine our styles before the tournament as well as work on getting Nora her own. I saw you punch and kick a few away and while your form was good it might do you good to know a style, maybe he could ask Yang later if she could help given, she uses a boxer style that might work well for you." Ren told the group getting agreement from both Jaune and Pyrrha while Nora let out a groan.

"Aww, I don't wanna learn some style, all I got a do is plant my fist in their face, and I'll be fine." She argued getting sighed from her teammates. Jaune rubbed his forehead while he and grown to love Nora like a younger sister over the few months together she enforced the way he saw her by complaining like one too.

"Look at it this way, you will have more ways to break legs if you knew how to better punch and kick." After saying this, he saw stars enter her eyes at the thought and sighed once again.

'I bet Ruby doesn't have to deal with anything like this, while Yang is a handful at least all her team members are reasonable.' Jaune thought to himself wondering how his sister teams outing to Vale was going?

XXX

"You ignorant little brat!" Blake spat.

How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate!" Weiss cried with anger

Thing were not going well for Ruby as she watches as Weiss and Blake go back and forth arguing with each other. She could only watch in worry as they become more heated as it went on and couldn't think of a way to stop the two, any attempt to stop them was meet with glares and dismissal, and Yang was having just as much luck as she was. 

'Ow, I wish Jaune had come with us, he might have been able to help calm them down. He has to deal with Nora's craziness so his use to dealing with unreasonable situations, I'm not!' Ruby cried to herself in panic as she stood helplessly watching her teammates fight alongside Yang and Penny, a girl they had bumped into (literally in Weiss' case) and who she had befriended? And was now watching the screaming match happen in the middle of the street.

Being too distracted by the monochrome shouting match none of the girls had noticed a pair of orange ears stand on end, drawn to the yelling. The person the ears belong to slowly made her way over towards the scene, amber eyes shone with intrigue as a playful smirk adorned her face. Pink hair swayed with each step along with her blue kimono, so too did the puffy orange tail that swung from her back as she drew closer.

"My, My~. What is with all the yelling~?"

XXX

 **I hope you like that chapter, I had a hard time writing this one at the start but got better as I went along.**

 **I hope Jaune's fight with Blake was to your liking as well as JNPR's training session, I was planning to have them fight something like the Altus bots but felt that was a bit boring then the idea of robotic Grimm came to mind, and I thought it could work.  
**

**Speaking of the Robo-Grimm don't expect much from them. Only the main academy uses them and even they only a few types have been invented with the strongest being an Alpha Beowolf, but only the higher years are allowed them.**

 **As for the fight with Blake I wanted to show his first fight back in class, and I was going to have him fight Pyrrha or Yang at first but decided to save his fight with Pyrrha till later (Who is Pyrrha gonna fight now that team CRDL is gone now I wonder ;)) and that Jaune vs. Yang was quite common a matchup in these type of stories. After going over who I could match him against, Blake was a matchup we never really see in these stories and thought it would be interesting, I hope you all liked it.  
**

**Saw How to Train Your Dragon -The Hidden World the other day and god was it a great cap off to a great film trilogy. I almost cried at the end, and all the mirror imaging to the first film was heart-wrenching. I recommend seeing it if you haven't yet it's a lot of fun and quite funny.  
**

**Before we get started with my responses theirs one thing, I feel it best to mention since so may have mentioned it in the last few chapters and that's Mordred being a hypocrite, and to that I say!  
**

**Yes. She. IS.**

 **Now let's get on to the reviews!**

 **The Storm Master 567 –** Your right in that Artoria should have better raised Jaune. But with the Arc's being a warrior family and Jaune having no talent for fighting in his youth, she had ended up neglecting him in favor of his sisters who needed the help with their own weapons and aura. Seeing that he was 'fine' and could look after himself, she never bothered to check on him, being too focused on her work both in and out of the family. It was only when he got older and most of the kids and grown that she started taking notice of his depression, and by then she wasn't comfortable interacting with him.

 **AnimeA55Kicker-** I'm glad you found my rendition of Mordred satisfying and that you enjoy my take in Jaune and her semblance. Yep, its only been a month or so and 2 since he dropped Excalibur but with this chapter, I've moved us along a bit and as such his back in the swing with Excalibur. 

**Ludatio-** I'm glad you like Mordred and her reasoning. As for his friends, I know their reasoning is weak and a bit flimsy, but remember this is from Jaune's perspective. When we meet them later in the story, let's just say not all is as bad as he thinks, but some are much worse. 

**The Last Kenpachi** \- I'd go, resentful hates guts wants to put in place level of salt. (Also, nice name, I love Bleach)

 **Dxhologram-** (See **Ludatio** response for thought on Mordred and friends) For Ozpin being Merlin, I'm not sure at the moment, I'm still working on the in-depth lore, but it's on the table. We will just have to wait and see. 

**Doortolight47 -** so you want to know if there are Noble phantasms in my story? Well you see, you have to wait for the future, don't want to give anything away so soon~. As for Cu Chulainn, I have an idea I'd like to do with him, but I'm not sure if it's too out of character if you want a clue look at the titles he has and have a guess~.

 **Rider126/** **Saru** **-** His name will not change in the story, but some people might end up calling him that in the future, whether he will like it or not we will see. 

**Gen2324-** Some of the Arc sisters will start making appearances out of flashbacks both in the near and far future, Jeanne is one of them. 

**1799** \- Glad you liked the last chapter, some more Knights of the Round will show up later in the story, but that won't be till much later. I may steal an idea for an anime I like on the subject~. I'm living in the Database~!

 **Ragnas Bredvolts- '** _Smirks in secret'_ I don't know~.

 **Doubledamn-** I'm enjoying it, haven't put as much time in it as of yet, and for the Gummi luckily my sis let me know about that little tidbit. 

**That's it for this chapter, I hope you all look forward to the next one, after all, its gonna be a big one!**

 **TTFN! TA-TA FOR NOW**

 **Malluk**


	10. Chapter 10 - Matters of Trust

**Hey, Malluk here with chapter 10 of Knight of Hunters!**

 **Were near the end of the road now people, the end of Volume one is just around the corner and it will be here soon.**

 **First, I'd like to mention that like when I was writing the Forever Fall's arc, I've ended up writing WAY more then I thought and was planning to keep this all one chapter. But since I've just hit 15k and just started the dock scene, it's gonna be too big for one chapter so think of this as a Part 1 to my Volume 1 finale.  
**

 **With that said let us learn who this Mystery person is, some of you may already know** **~.**

 **RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay Night is the property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting, only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Please support the original products.**

 **Edited by: M.H. Pintner**

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

 _ **Matters of Trust**_

"My, My~. What is with all the yelling~?"

"Eep!"

A playful voice suddenly rang out causing Ruby to jump out her cape. The sound of Ruby's squeak cut through Blake and Weiss' argument as the two became silent as their head snapped towards their leader along with Penny and Yang. Ruby didn't pay them any mind as she spun around to see who had spoken from behind, her eyes coming moving slightly up to contact with a pair of yellow eyes.

"Eep!"

Ruby hopped back blushing red in embarrassment from squeaking not once but twice but now that she had a good look at the person who had spoken. With all eyes looking towards the newcomer for the member of team RWBY the first feeling that could be felt was their envy of the woman in front of them. Having beauty as good, if not greater than her sister. The woman in front of her wore a short Blue and black kimono/dress with some white and gold accents, blue thigh-high stocking and a pair of tall, and black sandals. The part that main the young rose envious however was the fact her shoulders were bare along with the collar of her dress riding low across her chest leaving a large amount of her cleavage on display.

"Hehehe, excuse me, I didn't intend to frighten you." Her voice rang out once more, a playful edge to her words causing Ruby to pout, it was very similar to how Yang sounded when she was teasing her, and it annoyed her, sadly her attempt at glaring at their new arrived was just met will another giggle. Movement at the top and bottom of her vision caused her eyes to move up and down the woman in front of her allowing her to take notice of the two orange fox ears atop her pink hair and the orange tail swinging calmly behind her.

For many of them, this was the first time they had seen a Faunus with more than one trait with only Blake having seen a few over the years, but it was extremely rare. Weiss was the first to collect herself and seeing they knew arrival was another Faunus caused her to roll her eyes and scoff.

"Great, another one." still heated from her argument with Blake she let slip what she was thinking bringing everyone's attention to her. Blake didn't take to kindly to her words, and she hissed at the Heiress.

"Really? Now you're going to take it out on a complete stranger?"

"It's Ok." The woman's voice spoke bringing attention back to herself, "I'm quite used to people speaking their mind in front of me." She told them, seemingly uncaring of Weiss' words as she closed her eyes and shrugged her shoulders, however when her eyes opened her pupils had gone silted as they pinned Weiss to the spot, eyes locked with her own as she shivered in fear as her carefree demeanor instantly changed to that of a predator.

"Although, I do tend to remind them of how, Rude, their actions are and that they should watch what they say before they say it to the wrong person." While her voice still sounded carefree, the threating undertone rang loud in the girl's ears. Whoever this woman was it was clear to them she could easily overpower them, and that sent a shiver down all their backs, even Penny whimpered in fear having heard that tone of voice from her father whenever she does something wrong.

"Luckily, I'm in a good mood. I finally got off that boat, and I want to see if anything has changed since I was last here." She continued, the tension was gone from her as she instantly became friendly once more allowing them to relax, "Just be careful in the future Miss Schnee, we're not in Atlas anymore." She finished with a nod towards the girl, but her words caused her to freeze once more.

"How do you know my name?" Weiss asked getting an eye roll in return.

"Please, White hair and clothes, frigid attitude and a dislike for Faunus? The only way you could be more Schnee is if you had a caterpillar of a stash under your nose." She listed off before giggling once more at the blush that made its way to Weiss' face.

"Ho-How dare you?!" Weiss yelled, furious some random Faunus would dare insult her family so freely but also both embarrassed and uncomfortable she had been compared to her father, someone she hopes to not emulate.

"While I enjoy watching Ice Queen here getting flustered, who are you?" Yang cut in, while it was funny to watch Weiss interact with the woman, she had yet to introduce herself and given how she easily flipped into a deadly persona was worried about Ruby's safety.

"Oh, I apologize. I'm Tamamo, sister to many, Professional Huntress, Writer, and Fox Faunus." She exclaimed with a bow. Her words got a few reactions with Yang being interested in the 'sister to many' line, wondering if she meant literally or figuratively. For Ruby, hearing she was a Professional Huntress caused stars of admiration to shine in her eyes, the only Pro Hunters and Huntresses she had ever meet being either family or teachers. For Blake it was hearing Tam was a writer, she would have to ask what books she wrote, hoping their more fiction in nature. But given Tamamo's playful nature, Blake doubted she writes school books. Finally, Weiss reacted with a roll of the eyes at her proclamation of being a fox Faunus since it was obvious to see she was and thought the inclusion pointless, her name, however, did sound familiar but given the others of her team didn't react she would ignore it, not like she cared anyway.

"You're a Huntress?!" Ruby asked speeding in front of the Faunus, pose petals bursting around them however the only reaction for her was to bring her hand up to conceal her smile as she laughed at the young girl's excitement.

"Indeed, I achieved my license a year ago after my sensei deemed me ready. Since then I've done work here and there, mainly working with my family back home." She answered getting a broad smile from Ruby.

"Oh, I can't wait to be a Huntress! It's so exciting!" she swooned getting laughs from Tamamo and Yang, a smile from Blake and an eye roll form Weiss at her leader's childishness. "Oh! What weapon do you use? Knives that are also guns? A collapsible staff that doubles as a rifle?!" she went on to list off many different weapons before Yang walk next to her and started ruffling her hair pulling her out of her tangent as she tried to dislodge her sisters' firm grip. "Yaaang~!"

"Don't mind her, she's a massive weapons nerd. I'm Yang, and this is Ruby. The one in black is my partner Blake and you know Weiss-cream already, together we make up the most badass first-year team at Beacon Team RWBY!" she told her with a grin finally letting Ruby go who slapped her sisters' arm with a huff, but Yang only gave her a playful smirk.

"Team RWBY? That must get confusing." She asked with a smirk of her own getting a groan from the all-female team that caused her to laugh once more.

"You have no idea. Anyway, you mentioned being a sister. I'm Ruby's big sister, are you the older or younger one?" Yang questioned, she enjoyed talking about family and wonder want a Faunus one was like.

"Both in fact, I have a few older and younger sibling, my younger Brother being reasoned I'm in Vale." She told them getting nods from three of the girls and a huff from another, but she ignored her. "Like you, my brother is currently attending Beacon having joined a few months ago, but sadly he has forgotten to get in touch with us over the few months, and the family is worried. So, I have been chosen to make haste to Vale and make sure no harm has come to my baby brother." She exclaimed in an over the top tone, not unlike an actor hamming up a scene in a play, this got a few giggles for the sister pair and small smiles from the others.

"That is very kind of you to do Miss Tamamo!" a chipper voice exclaimed causing the member of Team RWBY to jump. The voice came from Penny who was still standing to the since were Ruby once was, she had clearly stuck around even with Weiss and Blake arguing but had not spoken in the last few minutes leading to them forgetting the Atlas native was still there.

"Jeez Penny, don't scare us like that," Ruby exclaimed as she tried to get her breath back.

"Apologies Friend Ruby."

With everyone's attention now drawn to the ginger girl, Tamamo finally got a chance to get a better look at the girl or more specifically her Aura. If anyone was to ask what she was best at it was both Aura Manipulation and Sensing given her nature and semblance. Aura Sensing was a skill most Hunters/Huntresses learn near the end of their studies as it allows them to better keep track of Aura levels of oneself and teammates, being more practical then pulling out a scroll to check in the middle of a fight. Give the blond Girl, Yang had said they were all first years, even if Ruby look too young, they would still have a few years before they start to learn the basics of Aura sensing.

The aura of this Penny girl, however, was strange. While most hunters wouldn't notice given most only learn enough to use in battle, Tamamo was one who had intensely studied the subject and had a more masterful level of ability. With that, she could feel something was off with the ginger's Aura, while she could tell it was definitely Aura as it was impossible to fake something was strange about hers, most Auras can be explained as flames, ever fluctuating as is natural for a person's mood, body, and mind. But this Penny girl's Aura was still, like a pool of water, calm, controlled, unmoving.

"Interesting." She whispered before clapping her hands drawing everyone's attention back to her, "While it was a pleasure meeting you all, the day will soon be drawing to a close, and I need to find a hotel before going to see my Brother. It was a pleasure meeting you all." She spoke aloud getting nods from around with a few farewells spoked the Fox Faunus walked off, sending one last intriguing look towards Penny.

"Finally, she's gone."

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

Ruby and Yang could only facepalm as their partners once again started arguing with Penny watching on alongside them, they had hoped Tamamo's presence had allowed them to calm down, but it seemed they aren't going to stop any time soon.

"She was nice." Penny's chipper voice said, ignorant to the sisters' woes.

* * *

"Man, I'm spent." Jaune groaned out with a stretch as he and his team walked towards their room. The had just finished their afternoon of training, overall Jaune could safely say it was quite productive. After smashing a large number of bots, they had spent the rest of the afternoon fighting each other in both 1v1, 2v2 and even 1v3 to see how they each did working together and outnumbered. This type of training was necessary with the upcoming tournament as Jaune wanted his team ready for any outcome, even the one where they end up losing. Sadly, they had to cut training early. Miss Goodwitch had arrived given all the noise they made and had proceeded to lecture them about the damage they had caused the arena, even forcing them to help her clean up their mess much to Nora's anguish. But given most of the mess was hers she had no room to compline.

"Don't be a baby Fearless leader! We could have totally gone a few more hours if Miss Goodwitch hadn't shown up." Nora exclaimed bouncing alongside her team seaming as if she had not just spent four hours fighting.

"You and Jaune may have been able to do so Nora, but me and Ren don't have your level of stamina." Pyrrha brought up as she walked alongside them looking slightly winded as Ren dragged himself along next to her, his only response being a groan of agreement as he shambled along.

While Pyrrha could battle as long as her other two teammates if she fought conservatively her fighting style involved a lot of movement and was quick to drain her stamina while Ren had the lowest stamina of the group naturally. In Jaune's case, his years spent working only on his physical power had granted him a ridicules level of endurance while Nora was typically energetic and had heaps of it to spare. It was something they would have to work on as Hunters are known to spend days, even weeks out in the wild and would be spending most of the time on little rest let alone sleep, so increasing their stamina was something Jaune was planning to focus on while at Beacon.

As the team finally reached their floor and made their way towards their room. Yelling could be heard from team RWBY's room bringing great concern to the group. Drawing closer they could make out the yelling was from Weiss and Blake. Stepping forwards Jaune knocked on the door which did little to stop the noise but given it soon opened, someone must have heard. When the door fully opened a worried looking Yang came into view and given the yelling it was clear to know why.

"What's happening?" Pyrrha's worried voice asked, not use to seeing the all-girl team in such disorder. Yang just released a sigh as she motioned for them to come in, closing the door when they all had stepped in. When they did Ruby was the only one to notice them sending a strained smile towards them before turning back to watch her 2 team members continue to go at it.

"It was while we were at the docks, some Faunus had stowed away on a ship and ran away. Weiss had said some… choice words about the guy and Blake wasn't happy since then they've been going at it, and we can't stop them." Yang answered getting nods from the group.

"How long ago was this?" Ren asked wanting to know how long they had been arguing.

"Around 3 hours now."

That caused the team to cringe, feeling sorry for the pair of sisters who had been forced to witness it all, turning they to begin to watch them go at it, hoping the argument would come to an end.

"You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!" Weiss heatedly exclaimed, standing up from where she was seated on her bed.

"There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!" Blake to stood as she came face to face with the Heiress, not backing down.

"People like _me_?" Weiss asked, offended she would place her in the same group as someone like Cardin.

"You're discriminatory!" Blake answered, giving her an idea what part of Cardin she was referring to.

"I'm a victim!" Weiss yelled back causing Blake to grow silent along with those watching. Taking a step towards Blake, she started to talk much more quietly, yet her words carried much more weight. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?" she didn't wait for an answered as she stepped close to the window leaning against the bookshelf as she looked out into the night sky. "It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember." She told them, the pain in her voice clear as she continued, "Ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a tough childhood." She finished as she banged her fist into the bookshelf, her anger clear as her words become more heated as she spoke.

Ruby seeing her partner was in distress moved over to her side, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder hoping to give her some support. ""Weiss, I-" she was cut off however as Weiss slapped her hand away and spun to glare at Blake.

"No!" she exclaimed as she moved back to glare at Blake, paying no heed to Ruby's shocked and hurt look, the other were also shocked at her exclaim, not expecting her anger to explode like it did. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!" Each word like a knife to Blake's gut as her own anger grew at her words, unable to handle her words like Weiss she to exploded in a yell of her own.

"Well maybe WE were just tired of being pushed around!" the room went definingly silent, it was then that her eyes widened in horror as she realized she had let her secret slip. It was also here when she watched Weiss step back that she looked to see the rest of her team's reaction and now notice team JNPR were also in the room who all had looks of shock on their faces. Even Jaune who may have known of her heritage didn't know of her previous affiliation and was also in a state of shock.

"I... I…" Not knowing how to handle the situation she had caused she did the only thing she could, using everyone's shocked states she pumped aura into her legs and shot past all her frozen friends, or former friends in her mind, and made her escape.

"Blake! Wait!" Jaune was the first to react, turning towards the door and looking out in hopes of seeing the now known Faunas.

"Come Back!" Ruby yell as she joined him on looking where her fleeing teammate may have gone. Seeing no sight of her, they both turned back to see their team's reaction. Yang had set herself down on Blake's bed in shock, having not known her partner was a Faunus while Pyrrha looked on in worry, unsure of how to react and just being worried for her friends. Ren and Nora looked concerned themselves as they looked towards each other in hopes that one of them had answers. Weiss was the most shocked of all, glaring at the door as she tried to make sense of the situation, how had she not noticed a Faunus living in the same room as her, one that was a part of the White Fang no less.

*sigh*" Well that could have not gone any worse." Jaune spoke aloud sad that Blake's secret came to light in such a terrible way, along with apparently being a part of a terrorist organization or more likely former member given if she was an active member, he doubted Weiss would still be alive if she were.

"All this time and not one of us knew," Weiss spoke, anger in her voice, whether it was at Blake or herself for not noticing only she knew.

"I knew." Jaune response caused those in the room to turn towards him with looks of shock, betrayal, and anger. "Well, I knew she was a Faunus, the other part is new to me."

"How did you know? Did she tell you?" Yang asked a hint of betrayal on her voice at the thought of her partner going to someone else first with her secret. Jaune picked up on this and hoped to ease the blonde's worry.

"She didn't tell me if you're worried, two of my sisters are Faunus, and I'm very close to my older one, so I knew how to spot the traits of others easily. She was hesitant at first, but we talked about why she hid and said how she didn't want to be judged for being a Faunus first instead of a person. She was even planning on telling you when we went on break after next week, but… it seems that plan is out the window." He finished with a sad sigh.

"We need to go find her!" Ruby spoke with urgency but given how late it was getting and how fast Blake was moving it was likely she had already taken one of the last Bulkheads down to Vale. After a few minutes of talking, Jaune and his team agreed to help them search in the morning and trusted that Blake could look after herself and bid the team a goodnight. Weiss had not spoken much if at all as they planned on how to find their missing friend, wanting little to do with the runaway at the moment as her emotions ran rampant in her mind not knowing what to think.

* * *

She ran. It was all she could think to do, the scene playing out over and over in her head, on how she had messed up, on all the looks of shock she had seen when her words had clicked in their heads. She hadn't bothered to stick around to see the looks of anger and disgust that would no doubt soon follow as she soon came to a stop in front of the Beacon statue.

Looking at the statue she couldn't help but shed a few tears, she had hoped that by coming to Beacon she could leave her past behind her and start anew. Wishing to devote her life to protecting people and slaying Grimm. Reaching up she grasped the two ends of her bow and slowly pulled it apart allowing a pair of black cat ears to come free, twitching slightly in the wind.

"My they are cute, much better then coved by a bow." A voice spoke behind her, spinning she recognized the woman in front of her as the one that had interrupted their argument early that day.

"You're that woman from earlier, Tamamo, right?" Blake asked wiping any tears she may still have away as the woman drew closer with a smirk on her face, but as she got closer, it morphed into a concerned one.

"Indeed, what seems to be the matter?" she asked her voice much softer then Blake had heard before. A part of her wanted to say she was fine and try and get away, but she remembers Tamamo stating she was a huntress so the woman would know that she was lying. That along with her being a Faunus like her gave Blake some comfort in telling her the truth.

"I let slip I was a Faunus to my friends. They didn't know, and I was afraid what they might say, so I ran." She told her getting a sympathetic look in return.

"I see. While I can understand your reason for being afraid its best to talk about it then run away. I'm sure you can come to some understanding if you tried?" She told the distraught faunas, but she shook her head.

"It's… more complicated than that." Blake whispered back getting a raised eyebrow in return, seeing the curious look Tamamo was sending her she shook her head again, "I'm sorry, I can't tell you, and I can't go back. At least not yet." She finished leaving silence in the air.

Tamamo continued to look at the young girl in front of her and thought of what to do. It was clear she was in a very bad spot but refused to return to her dorm and given how vulnerable she appeared, decided to help the poor girl out. Releasing a sigh, she sent the young Faunus a smile.

"While I did come to see my brother, it appears you require some help and being a Huntress and fellow Faunus, I think it best I provide it." She told her getting a confused look from Blake, turning around she started making her way towards the Bullheads but not hearing any other footfall turned to see Blake standing where she was. "What are you waiting for? Let's go."

"Go? Go where?" Blake asked, a bit cautious for what the other Faunus wanted.

Tamamo just rolled her eyes at her caution before answering. "Since you don't want to return to your dorm, and I doubt you have anywhere else to go, you can stay with me for the night. I'm not about to let a young woman like yourself live on the street now." She answered getting a hesitant nod from Blake who after a few moments of thinking slowly made her way to Tamamo's side.

Nodding toward her they started making their way towards the Docks, before Tamamo turned towards the nearby trees and spoke aloud, "Its rude to ears drop on people." Her works caused Blake to flinch away from the trees, worried it may be one of her friends, her heart skipped a beat at the sight of blonde hair, but she soon calmed down when the monkey Faunus from before walked out with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Hehehe, sorry 'bout that, didn't want to ruin the mood." He told them before looking towards Blake with a smile, "I knew you'd look better without the bow." He told her with a smile, but he didn't get the reaction he wanted.

"Right..." she answered back leaving an awkward silence in the air.

"Anyway, let's be on our way," Tamamo said getting a nod from Blake as they started walking away from the boy who quick to join them getting confused looks.

"Why are you following us?" Blake asked but only got a shrug in response.

"You look like you need a friendly face, so I'll tag along." He told them, getting raised eyebrows from both girls, he soon became uncomfortable under their stares as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, "I also have nowhere to stay, I kind of forgot my wallet back in Haven. Hahaha…" he finished with a small laugh getting both girls to roll their eyes.

"Well sorry to say, but you won't be staying with us," Tamamo told him getting a look of surprise and worry from the Blonde.

"What! Why? You're letting her stay with you?" he complained getting a scoff from the fox Faunus who wagged a finger in front of his face.

"If you think I'm going to let some hormone driven boy in a room with two maidens such as ourselves for the night, you've got another thing coming monkey boy." She told him before strutting off with Blake not far behind, a small smile on her face at the boy's downtrend face.

"Aww come on! At least give me enough lien to get a room." He asked soon following along hoping to have somewhere to stay the night.

* * *

"Blake! Here kitty, kitty!" Nora called out as she along with her team and the non-missing member of Team RWBY, they had spent the previous day looking for the missing member but given how large Vale was they had only managed to cover the east side of the city and were now on their way towards the west.

"Nora, I don't think Blake would appreciate you calling for her in such a way, it's quite insensitive," Ren told the girl after placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.

"But Renny~ she had cute little cat ears~," Nora told him getting an eye roll in return while Pyrrha giggled and Jaune shook his head, finding Nora's words both amusing and childish.

"His right Nora, while I know you're not trying to be, most Faunus would see your words as an insult and racist, so please be careful of what you say," Jaune told her next getting a grumble from the girl but the nod she gave told them she would be more careful in the future. Seeing his team member quelled for the moment he sent a worried glance towards the members of RWBY, Yang and Weiss had been bickering back and forth about Blake with Ruby stuck in the middle, trying to keep her team together but being too worried about Blake to stop them every time.

"She's been gone all weekend…" Ruby sombrely stated getting sad nods from the group as they made their way down the street, all worried that something may have happened to the runaway friend, she had not replied to any of their messages leading them to believe she and turned her scroll off in an attempt to stop them finding her and sadly it was working.

Weiss was the only one who didn't seem bothered. "Blake's a big girl, I'm sure she can handle herself." She stated, getting a hurt look from Ruby and an annoyed one from Yang, Team JNPR chose not to get involved having watched the two go back and forth for the last 40 hours already and were just ignoring their spat for the most part. "Is she? You heard what Blake said." Ruby stated getting another look from her teammate along withdrawing their sister teams' attention.

"Weiss," Ruby said showing how tired she was with the point she was about to make, sadly Yang ever the loyal person took the metaphorical bait and replied.

"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. Either way, she's missing, and we need to find her!" Yang stated in worry, she had been the person most adamant on finding the missing Faunus having grown close to her over the months at Beacon while trying to get her to open up more.

"A member of the White Fang! Right underneath our noses!" Weiss paid the blonde's words no heed as she continued to try and wrap her head around the fact Blake was in the White Fang the whole time, she knew her as far as she knew.

"I don't think she's an active member. It's more than likely she was a member when she was a kid while it was still a peaceful organization." Jaune stated getting a roll of the eyes and dull look from the Heiress.

"Oh, and how would you know that? You said that she had never mentioned being in the group before whenever the topic of her heritage came up, so how can you be SOOO sure she's not a member?" she questioned, crossing her arms and looking away from the blonde leader. A little put off by how much he was defending Blake, but given he had two Faunus in his family he must have had bias feeling towards the subject.

"Well for one, you're still breathing." He started off strong. His words caused Weiss along with the others to falter in their step as they turned to him wide-eyed at his words.

"What!?"

"Jaune!?"

"The Hell!?"

Jaune just rolled his eyes at his friends' reaction before elaborating. "Think about it, if Blake was still an active White Fang member do you really think she would spend almost three months on the same team as the Schnee Heiress and not take the chance to either capture or kill her? She's had plenty of chances to do either at this point, but the fact she never did should prove her innocence. The fact Blake hides she was a member at all yet was planning to tell you all she was a Faunus but mean she was ashamed of what the fang has become and didn't want to associate with them anymore." He finished getting understanding nods from the group, Weiss start to really think about what Jaune had said and no matter what she thought she could only agree with his points but was still a bit skeptical.

"If that true what did she say what she did? It was clear she still had some connection with it if given she was so protective of them?" she questions again, not wanting to drop her point.

"Like I said, she was most likely a member as a kid and growing up with something make a person have a sentimental value for it, no matter how bad it could have grown with age. She more than likely grew up in the group but left when they became violent but still associates it with the peaceful group she grew up in and hearing you bad mouth them for something a random Faunus did probably set her off." He told her getting her to look away in embarrassment, while she wouldn't speak it aloud, she could see she was both rash and harsh with her words towards the monkey Faunus the other day but was too prideful to admit her mistake.

Before anything else could be said, Jaune's Scroll chimed bringing everyone's attention to it. Jaune reached into his pocket and drew the device out and open it allowing to see he had received a text. His eyes widened at seeing who sent it before taking a moment to read its content.

"Who is it? Is it Blake?" his partner asked getting everyone to perk up at her works. Sadly, Jaune shook his head in denial getting the group to deflate once more before he spoke up once more.

"Sadly, it's a different Faunus I know. Turns out my older sister's in town and wants to meet up. Apparently, she arrived Friday but something came up she's having to deal with but want to meet up at a café a few minutes away." He told the group getting nods from them.

"Are you going to meet her? We still need your help finding Blake." Yang asked, while she would love the chance to meet one of his older sisters, her worry for her partner overshadowed her curiosity.

"I have an idea. Since we're in the West side of Vale now, we can split up here and go search for Blake while I go see my sister. She's a Huntress, so I can see if she can help us in the search." He finished getting a few worried looks from the group.

"Are you sure it's a good idea? She may just arrest her since a Huntress." Ruby asked, but given the smile that came to his face, he wasn't worried about that happening.

"I doubt she would, she's more likely to help Blake out given their both Faunus and could understand what Blake's going through so don't worry about it," he reassured her. Seeing that had a play Jaune gave his friends his goodbye before making his way towards the Café his sister was currently at after sending a text he was on his way, he just hoped she would be able to help him find Blake. Who knows where she could be and if she was safe?

* * *

Blake looked down at the cup of tea before her as she once again thought of what to say to the two Faunus sitting with her. It had been almost two days since she ran away and was still having trouble coming to terms with Weiss' words, not wanting to think the organization her parents started would fall so far in such a short time. She had not spoken much with the monkey Faunus who she learned was called Sun over the last couple days, only really speaking with Tamamo when the boy was away feeling more comfortable around the older woman, she felt an almost sisterly connection with the Fox which was strange given she had only met her just over a day ago.

Currently, they were sitting on the balcony of a small coffee shop in the western end of the commensal district. Having been staying at a rather lovely Hotel along with Tamamo who had luckily had two beds, hoping her brother would have spent the weekends down in Vale with her then take a bullhead back up and down from Beacon but her intruding had changed that plan. A part of Blake was ashamed having intruded on the Faunus' family time with her problems but Tam had waved her off stating 'I have plenty of time off and given he's on break in a week I'll have plenty of time to spend with my brother' before going back to teasing the poor girl. It seemed she was an even bigger tease then Yang.

"I really glad you finally let me stay in the room last night, but did you have to lock me in the bathroom the whole night and kick me right out in the morning?" Sun groaned getting a small smile from Blake and a laugh form Tamamo.

"Well it was kind of funny to watch you freeze your tail off, it was just as sad to watch, and Blake persuaded me to let you in. It didn't mean I was going to let you have free rain or get in the way of my morning shower." She told him with a smirk as he gave her a deadpan look.

"Didn't mean you had to turn the cold water on over my head. I had enough of the cold Friday night." He shivered as he told them getting a small laugh for the two girls.

"it might be spring, but it's your own fault, Mr. Unbuttoned Shirt." Tamamo jabbed pointing to the tanned boy's attire. Sun just huffed giving her a small glare before giving his defense.

"Hey, how else am I gonna show off these awesome abs? I worked hard for them you know." He stated proudly as he pats his abdomen in both affection and pride, but neither girl gave him the response he was expecting.

"Eh, I've seen better." Tam stated giving him an iffy wave before returning to her own tea, drawing out a scroll before starting to type out a message.

"Same." Blake stated, taking her own sip as she ignored the boy and looking towards Tamamo and noticing she was sending a message. "Who were you messaging?" she asked, curious of who the Fox was getting on contact with.

"My brother, I want him to meet us here." She stated calmly, but given Blake's wide eyes in a panic, she could only roll her eyes. "Please, I may have spent the last 40 hours with you, but your problems do not put my life on hold. Besides, he's the leader of his own team he might be able to help you." She finished. Seeing there was no way to change her mind Blake could only sigh and hope whoever her brother was, was just as understanding as her.

Sun looks like someone had just slapped him as he tried to speak but only fumbling his words. "Wa-wha- what!? Your lying! Where could you have seen Abs better than this?" Sun asked bringing both girls attention back to him. Both just rolled their eye and tried to get him to drop it, but his male pride wouldn't allow it. So, with a sigh, they answered.

"When you get to around your third or final year most of the students will start getting into peak physical shape, so most guys by that point will be sprouting a pair of muscles one way or another. That and the older huntsmen back home can be built pretty big given their closer to the wilds." Tamamo answered causing Sun to nod, but a part of him felt sadness that his abs were soon to become the norm for his age class.

"That makes sense, but still, you said they were all around 2 or 3 years older, so I at least can say I have the best abs for a first year." He stated with a confident nod before a cough drew his attention. Looking over to the noise his eyes landed on Blake when he looked at her a feeling of dread fell over him as he whispered in horror. "No…"

"One of my… acquaintances' back at Beacon had a sister who packed his bag for the first night where we all had to sleep in the Ballroom," she began before a small blush made its way onto her face. This caused Sun to pale more, and a knowing smile starts to creep onto Tamamo face knowing where this was going. "His sister pack in a shirt that was a bit tight on him…" her eyes slightly glazed as she thought back to the day.

Sun's souls slowly made its way out of his body as Tamamo had a victorious smile on her face as she watches Blake no doubt think of her shirtless Brother. 'I knew that was a go idea, I wonder~?'

"How muscular was he~?"

"You could grate cheese on them." Was Blake's immediate response before her eyes widened and she slapped her hand over her mouth, her blush reaching Pyrrha's hair level. Tamamo just started laughing loudly while Sun slammed his head onto the table with a groan, Blake just cast her eye down to her tea, too embarrassed to look towards her two companions.

A chine alerted them to a message as Tamamo look to see what message she retrieved. Regarding the message, a small smile made its way to her face as she stood and moved towards the door, "My brother will be arriving soon, so I'll go order us another pot of tea for us all and bring him up with me." She answered the question they both had and hearing no response assumed they nodded as she made her way into the building leaving the two alone in silence.

The silence dragged on for a few moments before Blake finally decided to give the poor boy a break and answered his questions. "So, you want to know more about me." She asked getting him to look at her with some hope in his eyes.

"Finally! Almost two days and the only time you speak to me is when Miss Foxy is making fun of me, the rest of the time you just send me wired looks." He exclaimed as he threw his arms up like he was received a gift from Oum, Blake didn't take to kindly to his words as she sent to monkey a firm look, but this only brought a smile to his face. "Yeah, like that."

Blake could only sigh at his antics, a bit too similar to Yang if you asked her but she shook the thought off, not wanting to think of how badly she must have hurt her with her lying and running away. Taking a sip of tea, she started.

"Sun... Are you familiar with the White Fang?" she asked, a slight tremor of sadness in her voice but Sun didn't pay it much attention as he gave her a scoff before answering.

"Of course! I don't think there's a Faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of them. Stupid, holier-than-thou creeps that use force to get whatever they want. Bunch of freaks, if you ask me!" he finished with a sip of his tea but never got to swallow it down.

"I was once a member of the White Fang."

*gag*" AGG!" *COUGH* "Wait a minute what? YOU were a member of the White Fang?!" he exclaimed, luckily they were the only ones on the balcony, so no one heard his cry.

"That's right. I was a member for most of my life, actually. You could almost say I was born into it..." she started, but the sound of the door opening brought the two attention towards the door, having guessed Tamamo had returned with her Brother. A familiar head of blonde hair and blue and silver armor caused Blake's eyes to slowly widen in surprise and horror as Jaune Arc stepped out onto the balcony his sister following behind, his head turned to look over his shoulder as he spoke to her while she carried a tray of tea with her.

"Look I really am happy to see you, but we could really use your help finding our friends. It's been almost two days now, and we're really starting to worry." He told her causing Blake to flinch as he held to door open for his sister and waited for her to follow.

"I know, but I haven't seen you in almost 3 months, and the first thing you ask is if I can help you find another woman you're chasing after? How cruel of you little Brother, has your time at Beacon caused you to grow bored of your poor older sister." She asked, crocodile tears falling as she tried to look as hurt and betrayed as she could.

Jaune could only sigh, he should have known his sister would act up at his request and play the victim. 'Should have seen this coming,' he sighed again before giving her a smile, "Don't worry, your still my favorite older Faunus sibling and that will never change." He told her with a goofy grin, while it warmed her heart, she still sent him a slight glare and pout as she responded.

"I'm you only Older Faunus sibling." She grumbled, but Jaune just continued to smile. Seeing she had lost this round she could only give her own sigh and smile as she stepped onto the balcony allowing Jaune to close the door. "So, who do you need help finding?"

"Well she's a member of my sister team, a cat Faunus called Blake?" he stopped as his eyes finally looked towards the company her sister had mentioned she was with. As soon as his eyes locked with Blake, they both froze with Blake looking like a deer in headlights while Jaune looked just like he had walked in on someone naked.

"Busted." Sun wisped across the table as he watched the two stare each other down, neither moving in fear of what the other might do.

Blake slowly began to rise from her set afraid if she moved to quickly Jaune would jump her. 'Tamamo's brother is JAUNE!? Out of all the people it could have been!' she screamed to herself, never expecting the Fox Faunus's brother would be one of the friends she ran away from, her mind went back to the day Jaune had mentioned his sisters and remembered him mentioning one called 'Tam' and cursed herself for not noticing it was short for 'Tamamo'. She was almost up now, slowly pushing her chair back and freeing her legs from under the table but sadly for her Jaune was having none of that.

"Sit." His voice sent chills down the three Faunus' back as Blake quickly seated herself once more, Jaune voice had become very ridged and commanding. It reminded her of her Farther when he was mad at her for something, usually sneaking out of the house to hang out with Adam and Ilia back home. It wasn't her first time hearing it as well as an incident with Nora that involved one of her grenades and syrup had been the first incident of what her friends called 'Goodwitch Mode' from the Arc, and it scared her back then like it did now. For Tamamo it brought back memories when Jaune would use the same tone to bring his sisters under control, ether when some of the younger ones did something silly or even when she and Nero got a bit too excited about clothes or something. For Sun it was the tone his mother used whenever she caught him doing something stupid like climbing the house or getting into fights back in Vacuo, and it terrified the boy whose tail was stood on its end as he tried not to be noticed but the other blonde.

Luckily for him, Jaune had not moved his eyes away from Blake how had stiffly sat back down at his command. His eyes locked onto her as she fidgeted in her seat, occasionally shooting him glanced before lowering her head down, whether in shame or an attempt to not make eye contact he wasn't sure. He slowly approached, pulling a chair out and seating himself, Tamamo soon followed seeing that apparently, Blake was who her brother was looking for and found the coincident to be quite amusing but felt it best not to ruin the mood as she refiled everyone's cups while serving her brother's.

The air was thick with tension as Jaune did speak for a full minute, having not expected to find her so soon and easily, so he had trouble on where to start. Blake wasn't doing much better, she didn't expect to see any of her friends so soon, at least not until she got her head straight, but Jaune's sudden arrival had shaken her. She had almost ran once again at the sight of him, something Blake hated about herself, running away being the instinctual action to a problem, but now as the silence dragged on, she became more frightened at what he would say. Would he yell? Bring up her connection to the White Fang? How she had lied to him and the others? She could only wait as her negative thoughts slowly became worse, festering in the silence.

"I'm glad you're ok." His words brought her shock and surprise as her head snapped up to look at him wide-eyed, instead of the frown or glare she was expecting, a look of relief was on his face as he took a gulp of his tea, giving a satisfied sigh when he brought it away from his lips. He eyes looked to her once again, and now she could see the release of some of the anger in his eyes but luckily his happiness at seeing her ok outweigh his rage at her.

"Do you have any idea how worried your team and my own were about you when you disappeared?" he asked causing Blake to once again brake eye contact and look to her tea.

"I doubted you were all that worried," she answered sadly getting Jaune to raise an eyebrow before humming and taking another sip of tea.

"Because you're in the White Fang?" he asked getting her to flinch.

"Was." She quickly corrected getting a hum of interest, giving a resigned sigh she once again locked eye with him before casting a glance to the other two people at the table who had been watching in silence. Tamamo had her eyes closed as she slowly drunk her own tea as Sun watched on, his own cup being held with his tail.

I was a member for most of my life, actually. You could almost say I was born into it..." she began, even gaining Tamamo's attention and Jaune gave her a nod to continue. "Back then, things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between Humans and the Faunus." She was referring to Faunus Rights Revolution which had started 10 years after the Great War. Their contribution should have awarded them some respect, but as people moved on, they returned to their discriminative ways leading to the revolution which had ended in a Faunus victory. But even that had done little to change people's minds, and with the bitterness of the revolution fresh in people's minds, little was achieved.

"Of course, despite being promised equality, the Faunus were subjected to discrimination and hate. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings. And so, the White Fang rose up as the voice of our people. And I was there, I was at the front of every rally. I took part in every boycott. I actually thought we were making a difference. But I was just a youthful optimist." She stated with bitterness getting sad looks from the group. It was easy to recall memories where they could only scold themselves on their behaver at the time, while they weren't old by most standards, but they had all matured quickly given their profession.

"Then, five years ago, our leader stepped down, and a new one took his place. A new leader, with a new way of thinking. Suddenly, our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We were setting fire to shops that refused to serve us, hijacking cargo from companies that used Faunus labor. And the worst part was, it was working. We were being treated as equals. But not out of respect... out of fear." The bitterness in her voice was evident to hear, and they all felt the same way. People were stubborn, and sadly in some cases, the only way to get people's attention was to do something extreme, and for the White Fang, when they weren't getting their way peacefully, they started using violence, and it sadly worked.

"So, I left. I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence, and instead, I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress. So here I am. A criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help of a little black bow." She finished, wiggling her cat ears beneath the bow to indicate the hidden appendages. "When I let slip I was a member, I became afraid of your reactions, so I did what I always do and ran away, I'm sorry." She stated once again looking towards her tea, head bowed in shame as she let the three listeners digest her statement.

It took a few moments until someone did something. To her surprise it was the sound of a chair moving and an arm wrapping around her shoulder that brought her head back up to see Jaune giving her a small smile of understanding, he had scooted closer to be able to provide the Cat Faunus a side hug cause her to squeak in surprise.

"I know it can be hard to let go of the past, especially when it comes to a group you connected with and the mistakes we made with them," he somberly started causing her and Tamamo who watched on to remember his old group of friends both frowning at the thought in sadness. "But now you have to move past that and start forging your own path and not let the memory of what you have done hold you down. I did, and it almost got me and the others killed."

"WHAT?!"

Tamamo shouted, but Jaune just sent her a strained smile and lipped the words 'Later' getting a glare and grumble for the Fox, but she didn't speak again allowing him to turn to Blake once more.

"What I'm saying is you don't have to hide from us, both your team and mine are your friends, and we won't abandon you, your one of us now, and I don't think Ruby or Nora would be happy with you trying to distance yourself." He finished with a smirk getting a small smile from her, but it soon changed into a look of worry and guilt.

"How can you be so sure? I was holding back such a big secret, and I ran as soon as it came to light, how can you be sure they won't be angry?" she asked getting a smile from Jaune. But something was different as she felt his arm grip tighter around her shoulder when he spoke again, she once again shivered at his time being once again being strict and menacing.

"Angry? Oh, I never said they wouldn't be angry, myself included. Just be happy you're not on my team or else I'd make you clean our room for the rest of your time at Beacon along with being Nora's personal training partner." He stated with a kind smile, but his cold voice still caused her to pale in fear and be glad she had the young kind Rose as a leader. She could see how he was now able to control such an unstoppable force like Nora, he could be scary. Luckily his grip let up as did his smile as he gave her his goofy grin, he was famous for, "Your our friend Blake, we would do anything for you." He stated smiling wide, one which was infective as soon Blake returned it with her own.

"Thanks, Jaune." She replied, happy to know she at least had one friend to count on and given his words she felt a lot better at her chances with the others as well. Their little moment soon came to a halt as an "Aww~" came from the other female at the table, turning to Tamamo they could see a smile on her face, but the glint in her eye caused them both to tense up.

"You two are so cute together~. I approve of this one." She started getting the two to turn red in embarrassment, sadly she wasn't done yet. "It's a shame you can't punish her though, you would look so cute in a little maid dress." This caused them both to grow even more flustered both and Sun imagining Blake in a risqué maid outfit but she still and more to say, "but she does like that bow, so maybe she's more into being tied up~.

That caused them both their heads to blow up in steam, and they moved away from each other and unable to look in each other's direction with Sun spitting the tea he was trying to drink out given how thrusting he had suddenly gotten.

"TAMAMO!" Jaune cried, but given the roar of laughter from the Fox, he could only groan in annoyance as he slammed his head onto the table. While he was glad to find Blake, he wonders if it was worth it given, he had to suffer his sisters' teasing.

It was.

* * *

 **Boom and that's Part 1 down with part 2 hopefully being done in at most a week, I know this chapter took three weeks to come out but given it's the finale I wanted it to be the best work I've done so far, and I hope you all like this part.  
**

 **I do have some important news for what's happening after I finish Vol 1 next chapter, but I'll leave it till then to let you all know what I plan to do.**

 **Along with that, I will also be saving people Questions for the end of the next chapter as well, I did have a look at them a few days ago and was surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response the last chapter got, I thought it was one of my weakest, but it seemed I was wrong. Some people did point out some good points, and they will be directly responded to in the next chapter which I aim to get out in a week at most.  
**

 **Give me a brake Devil May Cry 5 came out Friday, and I didn't even start playing till Saturday since I decide to work on this for you all. But seriously I love you all and hope to continue entertaining you all with my story, and DMC is a lot of fun so far, I'm only at mission 13, so I have a bit to go but got to get the next chapter finished before I can start grinding then S ranks.  
**

 **With that said I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter and the Next one will be released soon.**

 **Till then, Malluk.**


	11. Chapter 11 - Clash! Man vs Beast

**Hey, Malluk here with chapter 11 of Knight of Hunters!**

 **Were finally here the end of Volume 1 with the longest chapter so far! It's hard to think it's almost been half a year since I started this story, having just past 5 months earlier this week.**

 **As promised, it only took me a week to finish and I how it was worth all the wait.**

 **I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT FOR WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE NEXT MONTH AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER. Please make sure to read it plz.**

 **With that said, enjoy the fruits of my labor.**

 **RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay Night is the property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting, only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Please support the original products.**

 **Edited by: M.H. Pintner**

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

 _ **Clash! Man vs. Beast**_

"BLAKE!" "BLAKE!" "BLAKEY~, WHERE ARE YOU?! ~"

Were the cries of Ruby, Yang, and Nora as they walked down one of the streets of west Vale with Ren and Weiss following behind. Soon after Jaune had left a crowd had quickly started to grow behind them, the cheers of 'I love you Invincible Girl!' and 'Marry me Pyrrha!' Clued them into what they wanted, news of Pyrrha being sighted in Vale must have spread, and her fans had come to try and see her. Due to the growing crowd, Pyrrha had stayed behind to give a few pictures and autographs to hopefully dispel the group while the others carried on west in search of Blake.

"Weiss, you're not helping!" Ruby groaned as she turned to see her partner with her arms crossed following along, an annoyed look on her face as their yelling was starting to grind on her nerves.

"You to Renny, why aren't you helping?" Nora demanded from the quiet male who just gave them a calm look before answering. "I think yelling myself would not add much given how the three of you are already doing it." he started getting small nods of understanding and a pout from Nora.

Weiss' annoyance had finally reached its peak and decided to answered Ruby, "Oh! You know what might be able to help? The police!" she said getting groans from her fellow females while Ren just closed his eyes, not giving his own thoughts away.

"Ugh, Weiss..." Ruby groaned as she crossed her arms, becoming fed up herself at the Heiress' attitude and her constant need to get law enforcement involved.

"It was just an idea!" she defended herself, having grown up in a strict environment caused her to automatically turn to authority figures in times just as this, and felt it was the best option to take, but sadly her teammates disagreed.

"Yeah, a bad one," Ruby stated as she continued down the road crossing her arms.

"Weiss, I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions," Yang stated, wanting to trust her partner had a reason for her words and for running away, it was clear the now revealed Faunus was distraught when she vanished, and her big sister instincts had flared at the sight.

"I think that when we hear it, you'll all realize I was right!" she shot back, growing up she was groomed to be perfect and given want Blake had said, thought her opinion was accurate and that her team were just in denial to the fact she was a, IS, a terrorist.

"I bet she's really the daughter of the former leader and she joined the Fang to be with her childhood love interest but he was corrupted by his anger and past causing him to turn into a bloodthirsty psychopath who's out for genocide on the human race, and Blake ran away causing him to fall deeper into madness and become obsessed with her and want to kill everyone she loves and make her only his meaning she had to hide who she is in hopes he can never FIND HER!" Nora excitedly rambled getting strange looks from all those present as they tried to understand what the bomber and said and how over the top and weird it was.

"That's just weird." Yang started getting nods from her fellow teammates where Ren just let out a sigh, use to the ginger's strange stories that are a bit too over the top given all the years the two had spent together.

"And I think Weiss's hair looks wonderful today!" a chipper voice suddenly spoke from behind Weiss causing all of them to jump in surprise and slight fright. Turning to see who spoke to Ren and Nora, they saw a green-eyed and ginger haired girl they had never seen before, for the member of RWBY the new arrival was familiar.

"Aaaah! Penny! Where did you come from!?" Ruby cried as her eyes landed on the green-eyed girl, not expecting her to suddenly speak, not to mention be right behind them.

"Hey, guys! What are you up to?" she asked avoiding Ruby question as she scanned the group her eyes stopping on the two JNPR member, "Oh! Greetings! My name is Penny! It is a pleasure to meet you!" she exclaimed getting a small nod from Ren and wave from Nora.

"Hello, I'm Lie Ren, and this is- "

"Nora!" she cut in giving Penny a large grin while Ren could only stand there, his eye twitching slightly at being cut off but quickly took a breath, not wanting to lose his cool and being used to her antics. "It's a pleasure to meet you too!"

Team RWBY just watched as the two gingers started to talk with each other, getting more excited s they interacted, they never noticed Ren begin to sweat profusely as he watched them talk, his eyes growing smaller each second.

'Oh no, there's two of them.'

"Uhh, Nora? Penny?" Ruby asked getting Penny's and Nora's attention as their heads snapped towards her at the same time, it was very unsettling to see and slightly creeped her out, luckily Yang came to the rescue.

"We're looking for our friend Blake." She told the girl, getting a look of recognition from her.

"Ooooh, you mean the Faunus girl!" she stated with a smile, but her words confused the group.

"Wait, how did you know that?" Ruby asked, not understand how she knew given she had only meet Blake once.

"Uhh, the cat ears?" She told them, pointing to her head where they would be located but this to drawered a confused look from the group.

"What cat ears? She wears a... booooh..." Yang started before her brain understood what she was saying, to say the others followed her words too caused an awkward silence to fill the air as they realized how stupid they all were, strangely a tumbleweed passed by the group give they were only found in the planes of Vacuo.

"She does like tuna a lot..." Ruby whispered adding more proof to the fact Blake was most likely a feline Faunus.

"So, where is she?" Penny asked, looking around for the black wearing member of Ruby's team but all she got was a worried look from Ruby.

"We don't know. Blake's been missing since Friday." Ruby explained getting a gasp of shock from Penny as she dashed towards Ruby, griping her arms in worry, not noticing how uncomfortable Ruby was at her closeness.

"That's terrible! Well, don't you worry Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate!" She stated with a smile as she puffed her chest out, Ruby just continued to smile at the girl, a bit put off by her eagerness.

"Uh, that's really nice of you, Penny, but we're okay! Really! Right, guys?" she told her as she turned to see her teammates gone along with Ren and Nora. Yang and Weiss wanting nothing to do with the strange girl Ruby had befriended while Ren dragged Nora away not wanting the two anywhere near each other in fear of what would happen if they were left together.

Ruby just looked on in silence at where her friends use to be, a bit annoyed they would abandon her so quickly, she would have to have a talk with her teammates about team loyalty when this was all over. The Tumbleweed for earlier soon past by the two once again adding to her betrayal.

"It sure is windy today!" Penny stated getting Ruby to give a tired sigh, look like she was teamed up with Penny, joy.

* * *

Pyrrha released a sigh as she started to walk away from the last person who wanted a picture, a bit sad and annoyed that she had to waste time pleasing her fan while she could have been looking for Blake. It seems her fame was just as strong in Vale as it was back in Mistral, but at least not as bad as it is in Argus.

Sighing once more she started to make her way down one of the streets heading more south hoping to come across the missing member of team RWBY, she like the others were shocked to hear Blake was, in fact, a Faunus as well as having some ties to the White Fag.

Being from Argus, she was quite familiar with the group as the capital, Mistral, is the home of the organization, but unlike in the other kingdoms, the White Fang had a different reputation. While in Atlas and recently, Vale, the White Fang is seen as a terrorist group out to eliminate humans for past treatment. In Mistral the White Fang are more recognized as a mercenary/PMC group that works to help Faunus both in the city and outside of it, this led to some tension between the governing body at Argus as half are Mistralian and approve of the group while the other are Atlesian who hold a burning hate for the group.

Sighing once more she waved away the thought of home, planning to call back when the break rolls around and getting back to focusing on finding the missing Faunus. While she had spent little time talking with the girl, she did consider Blake a friend. When she had learned who Pyrrha was, she showed little interest in her past, and the two had a pleasant conversation after but only ever had small talk whenever their teams were together, never going out of their way to interact with each other.

"I don't know how you deal with all those people? I bet they're so annoying. This is why I never bothered with big tournaments, too much notoriety is you ask me." A voice suddenly spoke behind her causing her to jump, being too caught up in her own thoughts to notice.

Turning she looked to see her speaker was a male around Jaune's height if only an inch or two shorter. He had red eyes and medium length, dark blue hair that he kept in a loose ponytail. He looked to be wearing some heavy armor in the form of some steel boots, fauld belt and pauldrons with his left arm having Armor covering his whole left arm with some white fur around the top of his shoulder while his right was left bear with only a leather glove and the pauldron being slightly smaller. Under his armor, he was wearing a blue/black shirt and trousers with heavier looking cloth armor strapped over his legs and chest with a medallion hanging from his neck in the shape of a wolf biting a crescent moon.

A part of Pyrrha was a bit unnerved by the medallion but didn't show it, she was to busy looking at the red spear resting comfortably across the man's shoulders, his arms resting on top of it casually as he gave her a small smirk. The spear was as red as her hair and over a foot longer than its welder height, the shaft had a throne coved vine-like design that ran up its whole length giving it an ominous look with a 2-foot-long spearhead at the top and smaller 6-inch dagger at the bottom. Given the man's attire and the fact he looked to be in his early twenties, she assumed the man was most likely a huntsman.

Seeing she was to busy taking in his appearance, she blushed knowing she had yet to answered the man's question. "While it can get quite tiresome to have them show up when I'm trying to relax, however my time in the ring has been most beneficial to my growth, and I would not be who I am now without it," she explained.

"Necessary evil then?" he asked with a roughish smile getting her to look away in embarrassment and nod, unwilling to voice the truth of his statement. "Well given how strong you are it's not surprising, I mean getting names like Invincible Girl and Goddess of Victory means you must be quite the fighter?" he said getting a small frown in return. Pyrrha was a bit put off my how casually the man was talking about her accomplishment and wondered what he was after but given the challenging smile on his face it was clear he was most likely looking to test her skill. The thought caused her muscles to tense up, it's not that common for fights between hunters to break out but usually, its due to them drinking too much and running their mouths but in some cases, alcohol doesn't need to be a factor for it to happen.

Whoever the man was it was clear he noticed her tense up as his smile grew larger. Their eyes locked and it was then Pyrrha noticed how dangerous the man was, his red eyes pierce her emerald, his eyes were those of a wild beast ready to tear her throat out and it caused her to take a step back in hopes of creating space, not wanting to be in striking range. The air was tense as they stared each other down, but after a few moments he relaxed and started to walk past her almost as if nothing happened.

"Well, I have stuff to do so I'll have to wait for another time to see if the names hold true. See you around Invincible Girl." He spoke over his shoulder as he went on his way. Pyrrha just watched as the man left wondering whether or not she would see him again, a part of her hoped she didn't, get a bad feeling from the man. It was while she watched him walk away from her that she took notice of something else, coming from under the back of his armor was a dark blue colored tail, a wolf tail, indication the man was a Faunus.

"He was dangerous, but I guess all huntsmen are when you think about it," she told herself before moving on herself, getting back to her search. But as she turned a corner, she bumped into someone with a yelp. "I'm Sorry!" she cried as she looked to see who she knocked over, seeing a blonde boy with an open white shirt and blue jeans, a monkey tail swing behind him as he groaned in pain. "Here." She had reaching to give him a hand which he accepted giving a 'thank you' as he rose to his feet. "I'm sorry." She told him a second time hoping he wouldn't be angry with her.

"Pyrrha?" a voice she recognizes very well spoke from her side causing her to look over to see the confused face of her partner and leader. Seeing Jaune, a smile broke out across her face as she stepped closer to the teen.

"Jaune! Have you had any luck finding Blake?" She asked, but a cough brought her attention to the Faunus in question who looked a bit uncomfortable as she gives the champion a small wave.

"Hey, Pyrrha…" She greeted with a small smile.

"Blake! Oh, thank Oum you're alright!" She exclaimed as she gave the girl a short, sudden hug. Before Blake could question her Pyrrha pulled back to give her a stern look as she started scolding her. "Do you have any idea how worried your team has been about you? My own included. You have been missing for two days! Who knows what could have happened to you!" as Pyrrha continued to scold Blake, the girl herself and those watching started to think it reminded them of a mother scolding a child, for three of them it was very similar to how Jaune acted.

'Geez, Jaune acting like my Dad and now Pyrrha acts like a Mother, no wonder Yang teases them as a married couple and the parents of the group.' Blake grumped to herself as Pyrrha's talk came to an end.

"Now what do you have to say for yourself?" Pyrrha finished finally allowing Blake to speak.

"I know Pyrrha, and I'm sorry, it's just I used to be a member of the Fang, and I was worried you might hate me for it," she explained getting a sympathetic look from Pyrrha.

"Don't worry Blake, were your friends, we could never hate you." She explained getting a small smile and nod from the Faunus. As Blake gave Pyrrha an abridged version of what she told the others Tamamo moved closer to her brother. When the redhead first appeared she was surprised to see someone like Pyrrha Nikos in Vale, expecting her to be at Haven and not Beacon. But it was how she reacted to Jaune that caught her attention, the joy that appeared on her face at sight at her brother caused a smile to grow on the Fox's face, she had a new target it seemed.

"Who this dear Brother~?" she purred in her brother's ear, who shivered in response, whether it was due to how she said it or the fear of what her tone meant only he knew.

"This is my partner." He started but before he could say more Tam cut in.

"Partner~?"

"At Beacon, were on a team together." He explained a slight blush on his face at what she was implying.

"Is that so? does that mean you sleep together?" she asked with an innocent tilt of her head, to most she would look to only be curious, but to Jaune, he knew she was once again implying something more.

"In different beds yes, we also have two other members, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie" he explained quickly, hoping to get his sister off the topic soon, sadly she was persistent.

"My~, two more as well? How bold of you brother~." She told her brother getting him to slap his hand over his face causing her to giggle at his misery, it appears she won this round. He expects this was for the 'favourite sister' comment back at the café and given the evil smirk she gave him, it was certainly looked that way.

"This is nice and all, but what are we gonna do now?" Sun asked, bringing everyone's attention towards the Vacuo native. His words brought them back to the conversation the group was having before running into Pyrrha as such they turned to Blake, wanting to know what she wanted to do.

"I still don't believe the White Fang is behind these robberies. They've never needed that much Dust before." She exclaimed, she had been in the Fang all her life, and they had never needed such a large amount of Dust before, at least not to the level where they had to snatch up every speck of Dust they could.

"Indeed, if they do need so much now then it is quite troubling." Tamamo also voiced her concern, less playful than they are used to, showed how serious she was taking the subject.

"What if they did?" Sun suddenly exclaimed bringing everyone's attention to himself, he started to pace in front of the group as he continued." I mean... the only way to prove that they didn't do it, is to go to the place where they would most likely go to if they were to do it, and not find them there. Right?" he finished getting everyone to think on his words, and after a moment they could only nod.

"In a roundabout way his idea has merit but where could this place be?" Jaune followed up, being a leader of a team meant he had to be quick with plans in both creating them and executing them. This involved a lot of theory and studying patterns in his enemies. One of the most famous quotes is 'the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime' and while most would take the quote literally and a simple TV drama trop, Jaune sees its practical use as 'the enemy will eventually repeat the same action again' and as such Sun's idea could work.

"Well, while I was on the ship, I heard some guys talking about offloading a huge shipment of Dust coming from Atlas," Sun exclaimed causing the group to go wide-eyed.

"How huge?" Blake asked.

"Huge. Big Schnee Company freighter." He explains spreading his arms out. Hearing the word, "Schnee" caused Blake to flinch slightly given her current situation with Weiss but no one seemed to notice.

"Your Sure?" Blake asks, she needed to make sure he wasn't sending them on a while goose chase.

"I recall a few crew members mentioning such an event occurring tonight," Tamamo spoke up, seeing their confused looks she rolled her eyes and explained, "I was on the same ship as the monkey was, but unlike him, _I_ paid for my ride." She told them getting Jaune and Pyrrha to send a frown towards the Faunus who just put his hands up in surrender. While they would like to scold him, they had something more important to do now.

"All right if its true we should call our teams and get their help." Jaune excelled pulling his Scroll out his pocket, Blake's eyes went wide in panic as she sprung forward and latch her hand onto Jaune's arm.

"WAIT!" seeing him look at her in surprise and worry she took a breath to calm herself before explaining. "I can't face my team right now, I have to see if the rumors are true first." She explained sending him a pleading look, while Jaune could understand her worry, he felt it would be best to have more people to help in case they run into any trouble.

"I know you don't want to see them right now, but I think its best to have our team there to support us, Blake please understand-."

"Please!" she cried, looking directly into his eyes with a pleading look, Blake was desperate to not have her team come along, she didn't want to face them in the event that she wrong. Jaune was having his own dilemma as he looked into her eyes, the fear and anxiety in them reminded him of his youth when he wanted to prove himself, and it was getting harder by the second to say no. Looking towards the others, Sun just sent him a shrug, not much help there. Tamamo just gave him a smile, while only a small gesture to him it was her placing her trust in him. Finally turning to Pyrrha she looked concerned herself, like him she to wanted to call their friends for back up but seeing how Blake reacted, she wanted to allow her this chance and not ruin it for her, with a look of determination she gave her leader a nod, letting him know what she thought of the matter.

Taking a few moments to make a decision he released a tired sigh, "Alright… we'll do it your way" he told the Faunus, a smile started to grow on her face, "But," it faltered as he continued, locking eyes once again it was clear he was in leader mode at the moment. "The second something is out of place, I call both our teams for back up. Is that clear?" he asked but not if she was ok with it, only that she understood what he was going to do.

"OK" she agreed quickly sending him a smile, "Thank you." She finished as the group started to make their way towards the docks in search of the robbers, they could only hope they found what they wanted, and nothing went wrong. But as the light over Vale started to grow dark, doubt soon followed.

* * *

The air was filled with the smell of fish as night descended on the Vale Docks, on one of the warehouses on the roof sat Blake, Tamamo and Pyrrha. Jaune and Sun had left to grab some food for the group as they had spent the afternoon waiting for night to fall. Tamamo was currently discussing (really interrogating) with Pyrrha about her time spent as her brother's partner and was she enjoying it.

"So, have you managed to sleep with my brother yet?" she asked with no shamed causing the redhead to turn the colour of her hair, Blake wasn't doing much better but tried to ignore the fox as she watched the docks for any movement but even she became bored and couldn't help but listen.

"WHA- NO! Me and Jaune aren't in that type of relationship!" she cried waving her hands in denial while Tam just pouted in annoyance. She could tell the champion had some feelings for her brother, but they were young, nothing but planted seeds at the moment and it would take a while for them to blossom and Pyrrha didn't seem the girl for a just physical relationship, too pure-hearted.

"What about you Kitten?" she turned to Blake who she hopped let her animal side loose and took a go at her brother. Blake just blushed herself before shaking her head in denial, both Faunus missing the slight glare Pyrrha sent the cat girl.

"No! I've never done anything like that, and I don't think Jaune has either." Blake bluntly stated trying to ignore the warm feeling in her cheeks, while she had been in a relationship or two, it was either when she was too young, or there were more important things going on to do the deed, and given how her last relationship ended, she wasn't looking for another.

Tamamo just let out a groan of sadness at the news, "Aww, come on! I was hoping that trick with his shirt would have at least got one girl to cozy on up to the boy." She wined, she had hoped to use the first night as a way to show off the merchandise and get her brother out of his 'I have no friends and am a failure' rut by getting him a girlfriend or two but it seemed this year's female body had more self-control.

"Wait? You're the one who made his shirt tighten when he wore it!?" Blake accused getting Pyrrha to blush at the memory. Expecting Tam to act ashamed Blake was disappointed when Tamamo just shot her hand up into the air with a proud smile on her face.

"Guilty~! I sure hope you enjoyed the view~, your welcome~." She snickered seeing the two blushes once more, it was clear they both found her brother attractive but it seemed the redhead was the only one who had any growing feeling, but she could still tease the two anyway while being a bit more, focused, on her brother's _partner_ ~.

"Why do you care anyway what he's done? It's not like he would like to hear about your exploits?" Blake questioned with an annoyed scowl, the teasing becoming old after spending only two days with the Fox, it's a surprise to her that Jaune hasn't gone insane having had to grow up with the woman.

Tamamo just sent her a scoff as she crossed her arms in a 'matter of fact' manner. "I'm still a maiden, I will have you know. Theirs's only one man I'll let in my bed, and that's my Husband when I find him." She told them when a devilish idea came to her mind. Tilting her head, she brought her hand up to her chin in a thinking pose as she spoke aloud.

"Maybe it should be Jaune?" her words caused both girl's heads to snap towards her in shock, but she paid them no mind as she continued. "I mean he's strong, loyal. An adorkable boy with a Man's body who can be so demanding when he wants too~." She purred getting both girls to blush anew, steam started rising from both their heads, "He would make the perfect Husband, and we would make such adorable children-"

"YOU CAN'T!" Pyrrha cried causing the two Faunus' head to snap to her, one with a look of surprise and another with a broad grin. Finally noticing it was her that called out Pyrrha blushed to a new level, the heat radiating from her face but she continued as she had their attention. "Yo- you can't because your brother and sister, so it's not right." She whispered, embarrassed for her outburst but wanting to get her point across.

"Technically I'm adopted, no blood between us unless we make some~," Tamamo explained, wanting to push a bit more out of the redhead, this was too good.

"You still can't!" Pyrrha continued to deny getting a curious look from both girls across from her.

"Why is that? ~" Tamamo continued to push, it was clear where this was going, and it seemed this flower was closer to blooming then she thought.

"Well, it's because- "

"We're back~! And we brought food! ~" Sun's voice rang out causing the three girls to jump at the sudden noise of his voice. Both Beacon females turned to see Sun hop up onto the roof with a few apples in his hands with Jaune pulling himself up with a huff, both girls blush fading as their attention was drawn to the boys return, neither noticing Tamamo pouting at the interruption, "it was just getting juicy~."

"Need a hand their Mr armour set?" Sun playfully jabbed when Jaune finally arrived, sitting down with a scoff as he placed a bag of water bottles down next to the food Sun was carrying.

"Well sorry I can't climb like I'm half monkey, literally." he shot back while Sun just stuck his tongue out playfully causing all the girls to roll their eyes at their antics. Taking a fruit each, the girls started to fill themselves on what they had bought, and Pyrrha was a bit confused by the lack thereof.

"Why did you only get a few apples and some water?" she asked causing Jaune to groan and send Sun a glare while the Faunus just rubbed the back of his head with a weak smile.

"I was going to pick out more, but SOMEONE decided to try and leave without paying," Jaune growled, hearing this Blake and Pyrrha sent the other boy their own annoyed looks while Tamamo just let out a small giggle at the boy's stupidity.

"Do you always break the law without giving a second thought?" Blake question, his action not helping her opinion of him and also causing Weiss' words from Friday to ring in her ear which further annoyed her.

"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?" he countered, but given the angry glare she shot him, she didn't appreciate the comment. Pyrrha herself gave the boy a piercing glare adding onto his fear while Jaune crashed his hand into his face with a pained groan, whether it was the slap or Sun's words, it was probably both. Tamamo just rose her had and slapped Sun across the back of his head causing the boy to recoil in pain, the slap being infused with aura causing his face to crack into the steel roof with a thud.

"Oww, Ok I deserved that…" he groaned in pain as he rose his head, his forehead a bright red from the impact as he rubbed it trying to sooth the pain. Before anything else could be said the roar of engines filled the air. Ducking down as searchlight scanned over the docks, the five watch as a group of Bullheads descended from the sky. As they landed men and women started descending out of the cargo hold, each wearing a black and white hoody with while metallic masks coving their faces, as a few turned away from the group to approach the containers a symbol was painted on the back of their clothes. The head of a snarling wolf with three claw marks colored red.

"Oh no." Blake whimpered, her hope coming crashing down as her eyes locked on the symbol that used to bring her pride but now only brought her dread and shame.

"Is that them?" Sun question getting nods from the group as they watched on.

"Correct, say hello to the most notorious group of Faunus on the planet, all for the wrong reasons." Tamamo stated with a sad sigh. In her youth she planned to join the fang when she graduated, to use her skills as a professional huntress to help her kind but by the time her studies started it was too late, the former leader stepped down, and the whole organization became criminals.

"I think deep down I knew. I just didn't want to be right." Blake said closing her eyes in despair as the truth of the matter set in, the organization she loved was gone and in its place was the beast humans always hated and feared her kind for. Her sadness didn't last long; however, as a new voice and person exited the middle Bullhead and the who shocked her to the core.

"Hey! What's the holdup!?" Stepping out into the open wearing a white designer jacket, black trousers, gloves, and polished shoes, his signature bowler hat sitting atop his bright orange hair, Roman Torchwick steeped out the Bullhead, his cane swinging around as he gestured to the group of Faunus before him. "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"

"This isn't right. The White Fang would never work with a Human. Especially not one like that." She hissed as she stands up and unsheathes the katana of Gambol Shroud before walking towards the edge of the roof. Before she can jump, a hand grabbed her wrist, turning with a glare her eyes lock with Tamamo's, yellow meeting yellow, one in a glare the other in cold professionalism. "Let go." Blake hissed, but Tamamo didn't even flinch.

"What do you plan to do? That's Roman Torchwick, THEE most wanted and dangerous criminal in Vale. Did you expect to just walk up and ask what he's doing nicely?" Tam asked, a slight edge to her voice as she tried to stop the young woman in front of her from doing something stupid.

Sadly, for her Blake ignored her hidden threat, too blinded by anger and confusion to care as she ripped her hand away from the older woman, with one last glare she spoke, "I wasn't planning on asking nicely." Before jumping down into the shadows.

Cursing, Tamamo turned to the remaining trainees on the roof, all looked shocked at the cat Faunus's recklessness. "We need to go, your friend just went to commit suicide, and I doubt you want that to happen." She stated as she stepped off the roof herself with Sun soon following. Pyrrha went to jump off next but noticed Jaune had yet to move. Turning she saw him tapping away at his scroll, soon closing it as he stepped up next to her.

"I said I'd call in reinforcements if things got out of hand." He stated before unsheathing Excalibur and both leaped off the roof themselves, a fight no doubt about to take place. As they waited for Blake to make her move, five scrolls all across Vale rang out as coordinates were displayed across the screens, and they ran as soon as they saw them knowing their friends might need help.

* * *

Under the shadows of the shipping containers, Blake slowly made her way towards the human criminal, her mind trying to rationalize the reason the White Fang would work with such a man, as she drew closer, she could hear him belittle one of the Fang members with added more anger and confusion to her. Seizing her chance, she dashed out of the darkness and behind Torchwick, before he could react, she placed the blade of her katana against his neck causing the man to groan in annoyance.

"What the- Oh, for f- "the blade being pushed against his jugular shut him up.

"Nobody move!" she ordered as the White Fang members turned to her, weapons raised, Roman wanted to tell them to not point at him but was a bit held up. All around the group the others watched on, cursing at the stupid move Blake had pulled, getting ready for things to go to hell. As the Fang grunts grew closer, Blake uses her free hand and reached up to her bow and removed it, causing the ribbon to fall away as her Faunus ears are shown to the world. For Pyrrha it was her first time seeing the ears and couldn't help but find them cute, Jaune had seen the pair once before.

"Brothers of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum!?" Blake cried the White Fang members lower their weapons a little at this development, not expecting one of their own to show up and as such were unsure of what to do. Someone found this complication quite amusing and didn't hide it as Roman started laughing drawing a scowl from Blake.

"Oh kid, didn't you get the memo~?" he purred getting a growl from his capture who pushed her blade into his neck.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded but Roman just giggled, not felling in danger at all.

"The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together!" he teased further annoying the Faunus.

"Tell me what it is, or I'll put an end to your little operation." She threatened but before anything could happen the air is filled with more turbines blowing the wind wildly around the scene.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a little operation..." he finished as Two more Bullheads hovering above the heist. The arrival of more Bullheads caused Blake's eyes to widen in horror as Roman smiles. Using her distraction, he points his cane at the ground and fires at Blake's feet, resulting in a massive explosion blowing to two apart.

Like a signal Sun, Jaune and Pyrrha dash out into the crowd of Fang grunts eliminating the weak members with only a few hits but while they were easy to take out the numbers just seemed to grow as the two Bullheads landed dropping off more troops. Blake was in a daze as she slowly pushed herself up back onto her feet, stumbling slightly as the explosion had distorted her. She didn't have long to recover however as she quickly rolled to the side dodging behind a container as a group of flairs exploded on the container behind her, looking up she glared at Roman who couldn't help but smirk at her anger, finding it amusing.

"Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty~" Roman sang as he skipped after the young Faunus but before he could follow a banana peel landed on his face. Recoiling in discuss he threw the skin away and cleared towards the direction it came from, his eyes falling on Sun. Before he could say anything, Sun leaped from the container above Roman and drops down on the criminal's face feet-first, knocking the criminal down as he rolling up and readying himself.

"Leave her alone!" he called as he waited for Roman to get back up which he did. As Roman stood and wiped the dirt off his coat a new set of Bullheads arrived and open up to let more White Fang members descend on the scene, standing by Roman and surrounding Sun completely.

"You're not the brightest banana in the bunch, are you, kid?" he stated with a smirk as she gestured for the group to attack. With that said, the White Fang charged at the monkey Faunus, weapons swinging wildly but Sun manages to dodge all the attacks as he returned fire, lashing out and managing to get some of the soldiers with his fists and kicks until he rolls out of the way. With the short laps in the fight, he reached into his pockets and pulled out a collapsible red staff. With his new weapon in hand, he quickly went about beating down on each opponent that nears him, falling each one in a single flaming blow when he as twirls his weapon around his body, even creating a scorching shockwave in his last swing, knocking a few more down.

Blake peers around the corner of the container and watched as Sun jump around and beat more White Fang soldiers, one flying over Roman's head after one nasty hit. The crime boss growls in annoyance and aims his cane at Sun, firing a shot in hopes of catching the monkey off guard but sadly Sun was able to defend himself from the blast as more Fang surrounded him. Seeing Torchwick was distracted Blake leaped past Sun towards the crime boss, her weapons in hand.

"He's mine!" Blake growls as she arrived at her target going in close and becomes a blur of afterimages due to her semblance, she slashes both blades at Roman, who backs away and deflects each would-be blow with his cane at unbelievable speeds, having no trouble against the younger and less experienced girl. Blake continues to dash, hop over, and slide around Roman to try and find a weak spot, but her enemy, while deflecting the attacks, easily exploited her anger to land a few hits on Blake until one final beating with his cane causes her to fly across the ground in a yell of pain.

"Well, kitten it appears I'm out of your league." He taunted causing her to growl in anger while cradling her stomach in pain. Stepping closer Roman planned to finish the girl off, a bit annoyed his reputation was damaged when she snuck up on him and wanting to clear the stain off but before he could get closer another woman appeared in front of the downed girl, wearing her own confident smirk and blue kimono Tamamo stood between Roman and the young Belladonna. "Well, what do we have here~? Your definitely more my type~." Roman purred getting a playful giggle from Tam who just sent him a playful smirk.

"Why thank you, but sadly I'm into younger and more masculine men~." She jabbed back getting an annoyed scowl for the crime boss before anything else could be said Blake spoke up behind her with a growl.

"What are you doing? He's MINE!" She yelled, but all Tamamo did was send the girl a piercing glare causing Blake to seize up in fear.

"Your way out of your depth here, you're too young and foolish to fight someone like him, and you know it, go help monkey boy out and leave the big bad to the grownups kitten." She ordered as she turned to face Roman leaving Blake to wallow in her anger and self-hate at her weakness before she followed the older Faunus' words and went to support Sun.

"While it wasn't fun watching you crush the little minx like that, what makes you think you'll do any better?" Roman asked as he spun his can around his finger. His words caused Tamamo to laugh as she sends the criminal a smile but unlike her playful ones before this one was full of killer intent which caught him off guard.

"Well, unlike little miss huntress-in-training, I'M a professional~." She sang as her eyes opened showing off her narrowed, feline-like eyes. Slipping her hands into her sleeves she drew a slip of paper in each hand confusing Roman but before he could ask Tamamo spoke once more, "and given the bounty on your head it's my job to retrieve it." she spoke coldly as she pointed a slip at the man. Aura rushed into the sheet which exploded into a ball of fire that launched towards the slightly scared man who dropped into a panicked roll, the fireball flying past him and exploding behind him, it was clear to him this was not just another school kid in over her head but the genuine article.

"Damn Huntress." He hissed as he brought his cane up, a serious scowl on his featured as he faced off against the Fox Faunus, their Aura flashing around their bodies as Roman dashed towards her while Tamamo drew more slips.

Fuelling the first talisman another fireball shot off but was evaded, drawing in close Roman swung wide, seeing she only had the papers and no weapon he assumed she was a long-range fighter and as such was crap at CQC. With his cane in motion, he failed to notice the second talisman Tam was holding which she rose to meet his weapon, her blue aura seeping into the paper with a blue glow. As his weapon came in contact with the slip a burst of aura shot out of the paper, launching Roman's arm back and into a spin as he tried to catch his footing.

Continuing to spin as his shoes scrapped the ground, when he finished his spin his face meets the side of one of Tam's 4-inch-tall sandals as she sent a devastating high kick into his face causing him to recoil in pain. Before he could right himself, Tam dashed forward and started striking Roman, covering her nails in aura to act as claws and aiming for his joints. Yelling in pain Roman swing upwards causing Tamamo to summersault backward, the end of his weapon just missing her chin as she flipped away.

"This one's got claws, and is a real pain in the ass." He said to himself as he started firing at the Faunus. Tamamo was quick on her feet however and quickly moved out of the way as flares screeched past her. Smirking at his irritated look, she brought up another talisman where a ball of ice soon formed and flue towards the crime boss, Roman acting in instant fire into the coming object that exploded on contact, the rapid heat from the flare causing the ball of ice to explode into smoke and steam, blinding the man.

Unable to see he was only able to react to the sound of heels, bring up his weapon for cover his arms buckled as Tam had launched a flying kick towards him. Following up she kicks Roman in the chin once again making him stumble, but Roman was pissed. While she was landing, he launched the handle of his cane towards her, catching her foot and activating the winch pulling her towards him.

Unbalanced, Tamamo could only bring up her arms to cover her face as Torchwick started laying into her, his weapon crashing against her chest as well as her legs as he wielded the cane like a sword, doing as much damage as he could before striking her away. As she rose back up from the ground Roman admired the view of her on her knees while he could.

"You know Foxy? You are quite the Minx, and that outfit is doing a LOT for me." He exclaimed as she stood to oppose himself, her clothes had become quite ruffled and dirty after their last interaction annoying her greatly, his taunting only adding fuel to her anger.

"And your looks does very little for me, you look like an old-fashioned children's game show host, and we all know how much fun they like to have with kids." She shot back, her implications clear as Roman went red with anger. Bring his weapon to bare he fired at her again, but she dodged out of the way bringing another slip to up herself.

As her aura passed through it a blot of lighting launched towards Roman who went to roll out the way, but the lightning had locked onto the end of his weapon when he was pointing it towards the source causing the high volts to race up the weapon and into his body causing him to scream in pain and become stunned.

Using his stunned stated she once again charged for close combat, she had not expected to fight someone like Roman Torchwick and had only brought a few talismans due to the cost of dust in Vale at the moment. Having just expected a few low-level goons she could easily take with her bare hands to showing up, but it appeared she was wrong. Drawing close she once again used her aura as claws to strike at his leg and arms, hoping to disarm him but his muscles had tensed up due to the currents running through his body. Deciding it would be better to knock him out she started aiming for his face with kicks, landing a hit on each check she finished with a roundhouse that caused him to fly, but he managed to stay up on his feet if only barely.

Stumbling backward Torchwick finally got his body back under control as he looked up towards a hanging container and took aim, firing a shot it fell forcing Tamamo to jump back having seen Roman fire. But now there was a large container between the two which she set about jumping over, as she landed on the top however a cry drew her and Roman's attention.

"HEY!" the call came from a nearby roof where Ruby appeared, her cape billowing in the wind as she stabbed her scythe into the roof next to her, Penny standing just behind her watching curiously at the battles.

Roman couldn't help but be surprised to see the girl who had stopped another robbery of his a few months back. "Well, hello, Red! Isn't it past your bedtime? "he taunted getting an angry scowl that just came off as a cute pout to him causing him to chuckle.

"Ruby, are these people your friends?" Penny asked her friends, watching the missing friend, a monkey Faunus and the champion of Minstrel fight off waves of White Fang members, she couldn't spot the Knight boy which confused her given he was the one who sent the distress message, but her robotic hearing could hear the clashing of metal on the other end of the docks.

"Penny stay back!" Ruby ordered but, in her concern, missed Roman fire a flare at her but luckily Tamamo appeared in front of the girl another one of her talisman in hand and given the blue pulse it gave off was the same she uses to counter Roman earlier. Both girls were shocked to see her appear in front of then, Ruby due to her semblance being Speed meaning it was rare for people to be faster than she could see and Penny since her sensors didn't react to her movement until she was already in front of them confusing her slightly.

"Now, Now Roman~ your dance is with me so don't go getting distracted~." She told the man who just clicked his teeth in irritation, sending a look to the two girls, her eyes lingering on Penny for a moment longer until she focused back on Roman, "If you want to help go clear up grunts with your friends, Torchwick's too much for either of you." She commanded before launching towards Roman once more, their battle once again heating up.

Not wanting to argue Ruby took up a sniper position as she started to take out any Fang members that were out of place or sneaking up on her friends. Penny didn't more, having caught Tamamo's look, worried the most likely seasoned Huntress suspecting something given the look she had sent the android. 'Does she know?' she worried, to lost in her thoughts to spring into action.

Down with Sun, Blake, and Pyrrha, the trio was engaged in a brawl with the lower member of the heist, they're each engaged one or two members at a time, eliminating one quickly before moving to the next.

Sun had split his staff in half turning it into a pair of nunchakus, flicking out the second handles to snap across Fang members faces, knocking them out cold. For the more bulk members, he utilized the built-in shotguns to add some extra kick into his hits or for long-range attacks, using his natural agility to dodge around and kick any who got to close.

Blake was much the same, using her natural agility and speed to dash between enemies and cutting them down, luckily they all had aura given it was activated upon joining the Fang after the leader become more violent. Aura meant you could take more hits and as such fight harder and longer but given how easy these people went down they were most likely new to the group or had a naturally weak aura. It didn't matter to Blake at the moment as they were just criminals in her eyes now, they became as such the second they partnered up with scum like Roman Torchwick and needed to be stopped. However, it didn't stop the pain in her heart with each member she took down, but as a huntress, she had a job to do.

Before anything else could happen a pink explosion of dust sprouted within the group of Fang, within the middle of the pack, cackling like a maniac was Nora, her hammer raised to the sky. "I AM NORA! FEEL! MY! WRATH! AHAHAHAHAH!" she laughed out as Faunus around her quivered in fear at the massive grin on her face. Before they could run Nora leaped into the fray, Magnhild ringing out and collided with whichever Faunus was unlucky enough to be in its path while the rest tried their best to get away from the hammer-wielding monster.

One such Faunus was running as quick as he could, but he wasn't paying attention to what was in front of him and slammed into somebody and fell onto his backside. Groaning in pain, he looked up to see a boy wearing green and white clothes rubbing his head as if soothing a headache. His eyes opened to lock on the fallen Fang grunt. Ren gave a sigh before offering a hand to the fallen man, "I apologize for Nora's behaviour, she can be a bit overbearing when it comes to combat." He explained, the man just nods his head as he reached for Ren's hand and took it. Expecting to be pulled up he didn't expect to be jerked up and into a descending fist that knocked him out cold while Ren walks towards Nora, planning to give her cover but not before giving some parting words. "Sorry but I still can't let you go, nothing personal."

While they fought on, however, a few other members were able to finally hook up some of the dust containers to some of their Bullheads which began to rise. But before they could gain any altitude, a large force crashed into the top of a bullhead causing it to crash down on top of the container, this was due to Yang punching down onto the Bullhead causing it to crash as she rose to her feet after dislodging her fist from the roof of the machine.

"Be careful you baboon! You're luckily the dust wasn't sent off, or you would have killed us all!" a voice rang out as Weiss soon joined the more explosive member of the team. Yang just rolled her eyes and waved her worry off.

"Don't sweat it Ice Queen, it's all good." She dismissed only causing Weiss to scowl more.

"You would be singing a different tune if it had gone up in fire dust and burned that mane off your head." Weiss dryly replied causing Yang's eyes to turn red as she sent her, her own glare.

"Watch it about the hair." She growled, but Weiss just waved her off like she has just done but before they could continue bickering another Bullhead started to rise, but Weiss was having none of it. Raising her rapier, a glyph formed in front of her as a wave of ice launched towards the vehicle's engines freezing them over causing it to crash down on top of its own cargo much like Yang's which also didn't explode.

"Wow Weiss, you should be careful, it might explode if you cause to much damage." Yang's voice rang out, sarcasm dripping on every word causing the Heiress to fume in anger.

"Shut it Xiao-Long!"

"Make Me!"

The two continued to bicker until bullets started whizzing past their head, ducking down they saw more Fang members running to engage the two, both girls readied their weapons.

"Now this is a party." Yang cried as she leaped into the fray, Weiss just released another sigh, just praying for this day and the whole weekend to end so she could go to bed, she just didn't care anymore and wanted it to be over. But as a Schnee, she had to protect her merchandise, and with that she too descended into the battle, to protect not just her family's goods but her friends as well.

Nearby Pyrrha was a monster in the battlefields, swapping between weapon modes as she danced around the hoard of low-rank fodder, she had to stop herself from apologizing for every time her weapon slashed and stab aorwhen her shield crashed against each member she faced with a resounding thud. But while to most, she seemed in her element, a part of her was worried for her partner and who he was facing. "Please be safe Jaune." She whispered as she thought back to when HE showed up.

* * *

 **(Just after the fighting started.)**

As Jaune and Pyrrha began to fight off the first wave of White Fang, each fighting back to back and coving the other as they moved throughout the crowds neither noticed a pair of red eyes watching from one of the containers as the pair cleaved through the weak opponents. After a few moments when they started to drift apart was when the observer shot out of the shadows towards Pyrrha.

Sensing a mass of metal heading towards her she slashed who she was fighting away and spun with Akoúo̱ risen deflecting a red spear that was inches away from piercing her back. Lashing out with Miló in spear form her attacker quickly jumped back while spinning the red spear in defense, deflecting her own attack. Before they could continue their battle, the attacker had to raise his spear to block Excalibur which came crashing down towards him. Jaune had finished the last of the Fang near them and turned to see Pyrrha fighting the new arrival and had leaped to attack. His sword crashed onto the man's weapon, as he tried to push through the new fighter pushed back with great force causing Jaune to fly back next to Pyrrha, landing on his feet he was ready to charge again in, but his partner spoke, stopping him.

"You?" She spoke in shock as she recognized the man in front of her from earlier that day before running into Jaune and was shocked to see him here helping the White Fang.

"Hey Champ, how's your evening been?" he casually asked getting a scowl from the champion and a confused look from Jaune.

"Err, you know him?" Jaune asked while keeping his eyes on the other man.

"Not really, we spoke earlier when we were looking for Blake." She answered before focusing on the Wolf Faunus. "I didn't expect him to be a member of the White Fang, while he showed an interest in fighting it seemed more for the thrill and not for hatred." She finished getting a laugh from the man.

"Sorry to have misled you, but as the saying goes. Anything for the cause." He said getting into a fighting stance, causing Pyrrha to do the same, "at least now we can have that fight." Before they could get started, however, Jaune stepped in front of Pyrrha confusing both of them. "What's this?"

"Jaune what are you doing?" she asked in confusion, Jaune sent her a glance before focusing back on the man, whispering towards her.

"I'll fight this one, your semblance is more useful in crowds and taking down any Bullheads that might try to take off." He explained getting a reluctant but understanding look for his partner, casting her eyes back to his opponents she bit her lip before stepping away and going to help the others but not without some parting words.

"Be careful Jaune, he's very dangerous." She warned before going off to find more Fang members, soon joining Sun and Blake in the center of the Docks, leaving Jaune and the red-eyed man alone.

The man just watched as the champion went off before focusing on Jaune an interested look on his face. "You sure it was wise to send the Champion away like that? You two could have teamed up on me, make things interesting?" He asked with a cocky smirk causing Jaune to narrow his eyes. Pyrrha was right to say the man was dangerous, a wild aura coming from him like a predator watching his pray.

"While Pyrrha is a great fighter, she's better at handling crowds then I am and given how many Fang are around it would be best not to have two of us fighting only one person, no matter how strong they are." He stated while dropping into his own stance, his aura coming to life around him in a white glow as it flickered across his body before fading, he also started to fuel his semblance, no doubt needing to use it if he wanted to match the older fighter. "But I'm sure I won't disappoint."

The man watched on as Jaune got ready and he appeared to like what he saw as a savage smile came across his face, spring his weapon around his body in a red blur he once again settled into his stance, his own red aura flickering across his frame before fading indication, he was also ready. "I think you will. My name is Cú Chulainn, Enforcer of the White Fang and Hound of Culann! What is the name of my next pray?" he yelled.

"Jaune Arc, Only Son of the Arc family and leader of team JNPR!" Jaune called back causing Cú's smile to grow wider.

"An Arc!? How exciting!" he cried as the two shot off towards each other, the force of their charge cratering the ground under them as their weapons meet in a resounding clash of wind. "Let's see that legendary power then, Jaune Arc!"

With that said the two broke apart where Cú went for a stab at Jaune's center which he easily deflected, retaliating with a horizontal swing that traveled down the shaft of the spear Cú was forced to let go of his weapon with one hand had duck out the way of the slash.

Using his lower position, he spun, regripping his weapon, into a rising slash that blocked a downwards swing Jaune was performing causing a flash of sparks. Cú won the exchange with Excalibur being knocked back but Jaune quickly got his footing as Cú spun his weapon around into another stabbing motion, using his greater range to strike at the Arc male but he just merely swung his sword with a bit more power to deflect away from it before dashing forward back into range.

Clashing once more their blows became more forceful and quicker, their weapons become a blur of red and silver as sparks flew off at each clash. Cú would try and keep Jaune at a distance, using his mastery of his weapon to keep the blonde at bay with quick slashes and stabs while Jaune would dash close to put Cú on the defence but even then, he couldn't land a hit.

After another engagement, Cú became more aggressive in his attacks, using the other end of his spear to do damage where he could and swinging wider making it harder for Jaune to dodge, forcing him to duck and leap over more and more attacks but he soldiered on. While Cú was once again attacking at range, Jaune had been trying to corner the Wolf Faunus against one of the containers and was lucky to have done so, after ducking under another sweeping attack he pumped his legs with enough aura to not hurt and shoot into close range. Cú was expecting to once again defend himself before stepping away, but he noticed the container behind him making it harder to get away. He couldn't help but praise the young Arc for his tactics seeing why he was made the leader of his team even if someone as renown as Pyrrha was on it. That was something that had changed as the match went on, he had been disappointed he couldn't face the esteemed champion, but her leader was proving to be a good challenge and a great fight.

Now that Jaune was back in close range he started to attack in a flurry of swings, Excalibur flew through the air as it clashed with the red spear's body. A Rising slash rode up the shaft of the staff before transitioning into a beheading swing that was ducked under, he even tried a few stabs of his own but had no luck as Excalibur was hit away. But sadly Jaune's success grew thin as after one swing Cú had fallen low into a sweep which Jaune had jumped over. But in doing so was left open when a red spearhead came flying towards his head, wide-eyed, he pulled Excalibur up into a lucky block that sent him flying back. While he managed to land on his feet, Cú was now had more space to fight and no longer had his back to the wall.

'He's getting stronger.' Cú thought to himself as the two went into another exchange. He had started the fight playing with the boy, while he was only a few years older, experience was a big part of someone's skill and he was definitely more experienced but as the battle continued Cú noticed he slowly had to try harder to keep up with the young huntsmen and this both intrigued and excited him.

Jaune himself had noticed he was pushing more out of the man as the fight went on, 'good, I'm not feeling any strain since I'm only gradually boosting myself, its nice to have a fight where I don't just amplify myself by 10 and get sore for a week, this is much more manageable.' He told himself, ever since coming to Beacon whenever he had to use his semblance its always been in panicked moments where he only had an instant to act else someone would died, his memory of the Death Starker and Beringel coming to mind. Since having Excalibur back in hand, he had been working on finding the balance of amplifying himself and it not doing self-damage, and it was a work in progress, to say the least, but lucky for him he had a good idea.

Disengaging once more Cú gave a hearty laugh as he watched Jaune catch his breath. "I gotta say, kid, that's a hell of a semblance you got." He told the Arc getting him to flinch, but Cú continued, "being able to enhance your ability during a fight is quite the handy semblance. I heard rumors that all Arc Semblances have something to do with Aura enhancement and manipulation, so I'm guessing yours falls more under the former, right?" he asked but only meet silence, but he already knew he was right. Setting into his a stance with his spear pointing at the ground alarm bell started blearing in Jaune head as Cú's red Aura started gathering at the tip of his spear, radiating with power and screamed danger.

"Mine also has a trick with aura." He told the rapidly paling blonde who brought Excalibur up into a defending stance. "Let's see if that blade can match my Gáe Bolg." He challenged as he tensed to strike.

Before he could, however, a large beam of green energy flew over their heads slicing a set of Bullheads in half that soon crashed in giant explosions. Seeing this Jaune grew worried for his friends and didn't notice Cú's aura start to fade. As Jaune turned back to face Cú, he was already on top of one of the containers look down at Jaune with a smile. "While id love to continue this fight it seems our time is up so I won't be able to show you my trick, but you surprised me Arc, I look forward to the next time we cross paths." With that said he leaped off the other side and into the shadows. Jaune wanted to give a chase but was too winded and knew he would have little luck in capturing the guy and just released a sigh of exhaustion as he dragged himself towards the entrance of the dock, the sound of police cars and ambulances filling the air.

"Great…"

* * *

As he arrived, he could see his team, Sun, Penny and Ruby who was currently giving Blake a worried once over, rose petals slowly burring the cat girl as Ruby speed around her looking for any damage. They were all sitting on some boxes as police went about rounding up a large number of Fang who were moaning in pain on the docks and placing them into vans and cars. Sending a smile to Blake and Sun he quickly had to brace himself as Nora lept onto him in a big hug.

"That was Awesome! We have to do this every weekend!" she cried with a big smile on her face.

"NO!" was the resounding answers for those present getting a sad groan for the girl. Jaune and Ren facepalmed as Pyrrha gave a small giggle at her teammate's antics, getting herself under control she sent a worried look to Jaune as her eyes scanned his body for any wounds but apart from his slightly heavy breathing appeared fine.

"I'm alright." A voice spoke plainly getting her to jump her eyes looking up to meet her partner's bright blue eyes that looked at her with understanding, a bright smile on his face which she soon mirrored, bring Jaune into a hug which he gladly accepted.

"I was worried, that man was a lot more dangerous than the others." She spoke into his shoulder, enjoying his warms even with the armor they had on.

"I'm fine, really and while he was a lot stronger than most. Luckily, he left before he got serious." He told her both easing her worry and adding to it given the fact his opponent appeared to not have gotten serious in their fight.

"Who are you talking about?" Nora asked to bring the two out of their moments with a big, BIG smile on her face like she knew something. The two blushed at her smile and quickly stepped away from each other. Ren could only sigh at Nora's behavior but was also suspicious of the twos growing closeness, something to keep in mind.

"Well, I ended up fighting some wolf Faunus with a red spear." He words brought the others attention as Blake's eyes showed recognition and horror.

"Did he say his name?" she asked to bring the others attention to her as she slowly paled.

"Um yeah. Called himself Cú Chulainn, said he was a White Fang Enforcer along with being the hound of someplace." Jaune told her getting her to place her head in her hands.

"Yeah, an enforcer." She groaned out, this was a lot worse then she thought if he was here.

"You know him?" Sun asked getting her to bring her head back up as she looked to the group.

"Only by reputation, he's one of the White Fangs best fighters, last I heard he was acting as High Leader Sienna's personal bodyguard." She explained getting them to widen their eyes that such a high-ranking member was in Vale. "As for his title, he was called the Hound of Culann even before joining the Fang. Apparently, it's the name of his home town which is out in the wilds. He apparently defended the town from a group of bandits and ripped them apart like a wild beast." She explained causing them all to go pale themselves.

"Found them!" a voice rang out to bring their attention to Yang who was waving to them all Weiss following not far behind. When the white-haired girl came into view, their eyes turned to Blake who looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here, but she made no move to escape.

Ruby jumped to her feet and quickly went to Weiss's side as she tried to calm her down, but she just ignored her, her eyes locked onto Blake's. Seeing she had to face the music Blake rose to stand in front of the Heiress, her head down in shame.

"Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the-", she stopped as she saw Weiss raise her had to silence her.

"Stop! Do you have any idea of how long we've been searching for you?" she paused as if to let her answered but continued before she could "12 hours, today alone. That means I've had 12 hours to think about this. And in that 12 hours, I've decided..." she stated as the others watched on in worry, given their last conversation this would most likely not end well.

"I don't care." This surprised the group as their eyes widened and mouths fell open in shock, not expecting her to just drop it.

"You don't care?" Blake tentatively asked getting an annoyed look form the girl.

"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?" she asked getting Blake to shake her head furiously.

"No, I-I haven't been since I was younger-"

"Ah-bah-bah-bah-bah! I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates. And not some..." she paused to look between Team JNPR who just gave her sheepish smile and Sun who she just sent a small glare. "Someone else."

Blake was shocked and looked at Ruby and Yang who just grinned at her, showing their acceptance of her, she wiped a tear from her eye and gave her nodding "Of course." She agreed, getting pulled into a group hug by the sister pair of the team with both herself and Weiss trying to get out but sadly Yang was too strong to escape.

"Aww this is so cute~!" a new voice called bringing everyone's eyes to Tamamo who gave the group a teasing smile, her clothes being brushed back into a more presentable place. Yang and Weiss's eyes going wide in recognition.

"It's you!" they cried getting a small laugh from her. Before they could continue Jaune step forward with a worried look on his face.

"Are you ok?" he asked confusing them, as well as Ren and Nora, who was being held back by said man as she tried to jump at the woman's swinging tail. A teasing smile made its way onto Tam's face as she stepped closer to him and brought his head into a hug, i.e., into her cleavage.

"Aww, were you worried about me~?" she asked, but he could only give a muffled response as he tried to push her off. Her action brought a blush to the others faces apart from Nora who just gave a laugh at their reaction.

"Unhand him this instant!" Weiss cried, but this only caused Tam to smile wider.

"Oooh someone's jealous~." She sang getting Weiss to blush and spurt out denial. Having enough Jaune used some of his aura to finally free himself and send Tam an unamused look while she just sent him a wink. Taking a sigh, he turned to the angry Weiss along with the others while bringing Tam into a side hug, confusing them.

"Introducing my older sister Tamamo Arc." He exclaimed with a gesture to the fox girl who gave the group a small wave and present smile.

"Sister?!" those that didn't know cried in either excitement or annoyance getting a laugh out of the girl.

"Indeed, I am Jaune's third eldest sister and the first Faunus of the family, it nice to meet my brother's harem~." Her words caused the whole group to blush to an atomic level as Tamamo's eyes roamed over the group, even Ren. "I must say, dear brother, seven pretty girls already? well done. Could use some diversity those, another Faunus or two…" she continued causing Ren and Jaune to send each other a worried glance, she had included him in that count, but she paid them no mind as she turned to her brother with a smile on her face. "You wouldn't happen to know a bunny Faunus, would you? That would be perfect. ~" she innocently asked getting both him and his friends to instantly think of Velvet and given her growing smile she noticed. "Oh, this is perfect for my book."

"WOAH WAIT! I'm not dating anyone!" he exclaimed getting fierce nods from all the blushing girls before he pointed to Ren "and Ren's a guy, not a girl!" he said getting her to take a closer look. Now that Tam had a better look she could see he had a more masculine face and stance, she had just assumed given his hair length and the pink strand, but it seemed she was too quick to judge.

"Oh, I apologize." She stated evenly getting a nod from Ren, it wasn't the first time he had been mistaken for a female but usually it from behind for some reason. The docks grew awkwardly quiet as they waited for her to continue, but after a few moments, a drip of blood soon left her nose along with a wicked giggle. "Hehehe, boy on boy…" she whispered causing Jaune and Ren to explode in blushes as blood shot out of a few girl's noses.

"Tamamo no!" Jaune told her with a stern look, "if you write something like that, I will stop being your editor!" he told her getting a betrayed look.

"But Jauuune~, boy on boyyyyyy~" she whined like a spoiled child. The group could only watch on in confusion and embarrassment as the two went back and forth with her trying to get Jaune into the idea, but he didn't bugle.

"NO! and that's final!" He stated getting her to pout and look away knowing it wasn't worth losing the fun of seeing him read her work.

"Fine! but I'm keeping the harem idea." She said getting an annoyed sigh form the boy while the others watched on finally getting their blushes under control and wiping away any blood for a few.

"I'm sorry but what did Jaune mean by editor?" Yang asked getting the two to focus on her. When Tam understood her words, a smile came to her face.

"Indeed, when Jaune was younger I tric- I mean persuaded him to act as an editor for my books, he also acts as an inspiration for the main character in most\of them as well." She explained with glee, appearing to be proud of her work. Jaune, however, gave her a dry look along with the others, catching her slip but for Jaune, it was more.

"I'd have been more ok with it if all you wrote wasn't porn" he exclaimed getting a gasp of horror and betrayal from the Fox.

"It's not porn! Its erotic literature!" Tamamo exclaimed not knowing she had parroted a certain Catgirl with her words, something they all took note of as their eyes drifted to said Faunus who looked wide-eyed.

"What are your books called?" she asked interested in what to Arc Fox had written, at this, Jaune's own eyes widened as he remembered Blake's choice in reading and her favored one of them.

"Oh, their quite popular actually, my biggest being Ninja's of Love." She exclaimed with a smile getting their eyes to widen and heads snap towards the Cat Faunus who looked at Tam like she was a messiah.

"Your Kitsune-Sama!? I love your books!" She exclaimed teleporting in front of Tamamo, her copy in hand and she presented it to her, "Could you sign my copy?" she asked getting a nod from Tam getting Blake to squeal in joy. The others just watched on in confusion and shock at Blake's action, the question of where the book came from and why she was acting this way swimming in their minds but before they could ask a pair of officers walked over, Team RWBY recognizing them from the other day.

"We've rounded up all the Fang member, but all seem to be nothing but grunts and filler. I thank you for your work Miss Arc, we're glad a Huntress was able to stop them from stealing all this dust as the city requires it given the recent robberies. But I'm gonna have to ask why all these kids were here?" he questioned getting worried looks from the group. Tamamo just gave him an understanding smile and a small nod, as she spoke professionally, her playful tone gone as she talked to the cop.

"It was no trouble at all, when it came to light how big this was, I didn't have much time to act, as such I asked my younger brother who's a huntsman in training, his team and sister team for help and they did splendidly." She told him getting a nod of understanding not noticing all the teens release their breaths in relief.

"No problem, just make sure if something like this comes up, get other professionals and not kids, alright?" Tam just gave him a nod, ignoring the shouts of annoyance his words had caused, "It's a shame Roman got away, but we can't always get lucky." He finished as he gave her one last nod before moving on. This news suppressed them all, expecting Tamamo to have taken the crime boss down, but it appeared they were mistaken.

"Wait? Roman got away?!" Blake yelled, angry Tamamo had not been able to take him down even after forcing Blake to leave the man to her. Tamamo just sent her an annoyed look which caused Blake to step down, but she was still worried about Roman and his connection to the Fang.

"I'm sorry, I was winning, but a giant green laser beam was a bit distracting, and he slithered away." She exclaimed getting worried but understand nods from the group, the beam was a bit much, and even Jaune's fight had ended due to its arrival. "I don't know why the little redhead thought that was a good idea, it was way too much for something like this." She exclaims referring to Penny who the group only just noticed was missing.

"Wait, where is Penny?" Ruby asked but got no answer, Tam just narrowed her eyes into the city.

"Seems Roman wasn't the only one to slip away." She exclaimed getting nods from the group," Well this is all fine and good, but I want a nice, hot bath and comfy bed. I'll see you later Jaune~! Bye future sisters in law~!" She finished as she walked off with a wave getting the group to blush once more.

"WERE NOT DATING!"

* * *

Roman scowled as he went over his plans once more trying to understand where it went wrong, but he came up empty and could only put it up to dumb luck for the 'good guys' and rotten luck for himself. Walking into one of his warehouses with a crate of Dust he managed to snatch while everyone was distracted by the light show he released a tired sigh, he had a few hours till the red bitch showed up and had to think of a way to keep his head where it is.

"How very disappointing Roman." a silky voice spoke behind him causing a shiver of fear to ride up his back, it seemed she heard what happened. Spinning on his heels he but his best charismatic smile on, ignoring the sweat quickly building over his brow.

"Whoa,! Hehe... I wasn't expecting to see you guys so soon..." he exclaimed while his employer stepped into the light a crimson red dress coving her body as her amber eyes glowed with power, black hair draped across her left shoulder. Flanking her were her two lackeys, a mint green haired, dark-skinned girl on her left and a silver-headed, grey-eyed Caucasian male on her right.

"We were expecting... more from you." She exclaimed, her voice filled with disappointment that put the crime boss on edge. Roman gave out a small laugh, hoping it would ease the tense air, when it didn't, he decided to deflect.

"Hey! You were the ones who suggested working with those stupid mutts from the White Fang." He exclaimed getting a dark laugh from her, finding his attempt of deflection amusing.

"And you will continue to do so. We have big plans for you, Roman. All we ask is... a little cooperation." She stated getting a nod from the man, her smile soon finished, "However", making him freeze up. " with that cooperation I expect results. What happened?" she demanded, getting him to clear the large lump from his throat.

"Well some kids showed up along with a Huntress, the Fang mutts were all but fodder for the kids while I fought with the Huntress." He explained getting a raised eyebrow from Cinder.

"Who was this Huntress?"

"Didn't ask a name but she had pink hair and blue cloths, but get this. She had two Faunus traits, Fox ears, and a tail." He finished getting a somewhat surprised look from her lackies while she didn't flinch at the news, she just shot a glance towards the girl who nodded.

"I'll find out who she is." She quickly answered getting a smirk and Nod from Cinder.

"Make sure you do, with two traits it should not be hard." She turned back to Roman who looked to have loosened up a bit, "While the appearance of a Huntress could be destructive, with all the Fang you had I'm sure a few kids would be no issue." She said getting an annoyed look from him, his spine suddenly growing back.

"It was more than a few, almost two teams worth, not to mention the little girl for that dust job a few months ago was there along with the Goddess of Victory." He told her which did catch her attention.

"Oooh is that so, I heard the Champion of Minstrel was at Beacon, I guess I can let this slide." She finished getting him to sigh with relief, her eyes turned to the shadows behind the man and spoke aloud. "And what do _you_ have to say for yourself?" she asked getting the other to jump when footsteps started echoing around the room. Cú stepped out his own smile on his face, at the appearance of the Wolf Faunus Roman scowled, sending the man an angry glare.

"Where the hell were you? I know all you dogs like to go on walks, but you were supposed to help with the job." He growled but quickly stopped when a red spear tapped against his jugular.

"I'd watch what you say, beta, or I'll make you a jack-o-lantern." He threatened, getting a small nod from the man, turning around he sent Cinder a wolfish grin. "Well if it isn't Miss Fall, surprised to see you in a dump like this given how you like to think yourself a classy lady." He taunted getting a growl from her attendants, but she simply rose her hand to stop them, amused at his words.

"Well you know us Alphas have to keep our Betas in check from time to time, but Roman did bring up a good point, you were supposed to be there." She stated, her eyes glowing unnaturally in the dark room.

"I was at the dock, I was just having fun with one of the kids is all, I was hoping to fight the Champion, but her Knight of a leader was a pretty good challenge." He told her getting an annoyed look in return.

"While I'm all for playing with my food, it should not distract you from your job." She stated, but he merely rolled his eyes.

"Sorry but I don't work for you, I'm here to make sure my superior's interests are put to good use and nothing else. I'm not here to babysit mascara over here." He finished jabbing his thumb at the still glaring Roman, but he kept his mouth shut.

"While you may answer to Adam you should do well to remember that he is currently my business partner and I could easily suggest your 'removal' if you're a danger to the cause." She finished getting an annoyed look from Cú who pointed his spear at her getting her two guards to step in front of her.

"Remember well woman, that not even that extra power of yours could stop my spear from piercing your flesh." He threatend, but Cinder simply laughed as her hand lit up into flames.

"I care little for if it can pierce my flesh since it will never be able to reach it." She stated as a fact getting a growl from the man who slowly lowered his spear. When Cú didn't answer, she smiled in victory before waving him off, "Now be a good boy and let your boss know we require more men." She finished getting a grunt from the wolf who walked past her.

"All for the cause." He stated before leaving the warehouse when he was far enough away, he drew out a black scroll and opened it up and went to his contacts. "Don't worry Cindy, I'll make sure the boss knows all about this." He whispered to himself as he stopped on a name and hit the ring but instead of it being a male who answered it was a female.

"Report." She stated getting a wolfish grin to grow on his face.

"Of course, High Leader."

* * *

 **Boom and this all for the first Volume, how was it? Did you all enjoy what I did with it? I know it was a bit slow at the beginning, but I hope I did better as the weeks and chapters went on, and in the end, you all enjoyed it!**

 **Now on to what I wanted to announce which is merely a small break from this story. Now don't panic, this story is not being abandoned (I've put too much work into it now to just give up on it) and I will be working on the next few chapters but at a slower rate over the next few weeks or so.**

 **I'm taking a break due to the excellent timing of finishing the volume 1 stuff and my own and sister's Birthday coming up in April. (just missed out being a joke baby if you wanted a hint). I plan to come back to this story in about a month so it won't be much longer then some of my more significant chapters take but don't expect a 20k chapter when I get back to this.**

 **That being said I might work on another idea or two I have that are also not very original and have a few hundred stories like it but who knows people might like my attempt at them. We will see how I feel.**

 **With that said time to answer some questions! (I might make a Discord in the future so we can hang out and talk about stuff if enough people would like that.)**

 **CHAPTER 9 ASKS**

 **Mastodonbrawler365 –** Glad you liked the fight, I hope this chapter did it for you too.

 **Dxhologram/Saru -** Good ideas, I might use that in the future, but I got a while till I worry about bringing in someone like Merlin or Avalon as a place. (While writing this I had an excellent idea for him, but that's not for till post-Vol 3 stuff so got to put it in my notes)

 **Gen2324 –** I will be going into more Arc history in the future (around the start of Vol 3) in which we will learn a lot about the Arc family and the sister's weapons. You do get a bit of Atalanta's past from the first chapter which was inspired by her story, but more will be shown in time. I will try to do better at 'showing not telling' in the future as well. Also, I'm glad you liked the fight ;)

 **Justaquestion12 -** I would not say King but a Leader like one… for Ruby being Queen, it's not the plan at the moment sorry.

 **Doortolight47-** HOW DID YOU KNOW?! I legit got scared when I read this about Cu, it was almost too spot on. But anyway, I'm glad you like the JNPR scene as well as what Jaune using Excalibur has indirectly caused, it would be quite a change if someone suddenly lost a shield, so I wanted to bring it up.

 **Perry –** I'm going to try and show him getting better as this goes on and he becomes more Charismatic, but it's early days still, but he will get better, I promise.

 **The Storm Master 567 –** I'm glad you liked the chapter, I actually remember reading some of your own stories myself and enjoyed those so to see you enjoy my own is great!

CHAPTER 10 (Not many but still)

 **The Last Kenpachi** – Indeed, she had quite the dirty little mind in this (I've only seen her in Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star and she had quite a few attempts at jumping the MC, That and being evil but I can't quite do that here)

 **MeteorElDrago** – Pyrrha is the planned pair in the future, but people can still be attracted to others without it being love, Blake while finding Jaune attractive has no romantic feeling towards him, just want to rub her hands over those rock-hard abs.

 **Sheploo/Gen2324 –** Its SOOO good, I just beat it, and it was great! I also figured out how to kick his ass in the prologue as well, and it unlocks the next difficulty if you do which I find really cool.

 **And that was all I could answer for the last two chapters since I'll be on break, I might do a QnA in a few Weeks and put it on the end of the next section if not I just might do the Discord thing, but we will see.**

 **With that said I how you all enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next.**

 **Things at Beacon are going to become a bit more heated soon, and Jaune is not prepared for who is about to come back into his life.**

* * *

"Now arriving at Vale, please make sure all luggage is with you and have a nice stay" the automatic speaker blared as the airport was abuzz with activity, with the Vital Festival only a few months away people from all over the Kingdoms were arriving in Vale too both observe and partake in the event.

One such group was making their way into the busy streets. The group was led by a pale-blonde haired girl with three males following along with their luggage. Flagging down a taxi the men set about loading their bags in the back as the woman looked towards Beacon academy in the distance, the spire towering over the city like its name implied, their destination.

"I can't wait to see you again, My love~." She purred, thoughts of the goofy Blonde that stole her heart so long ago.

* * *

 **Till then, Malluk.**


	12. Chapter 12 - The Fox and the Town

**Heyo is me, Malluk! After two months, I've finally been bothered to write the next chapter of my story with chapter 12 of Knight of Hunters!**

 **I think a few of you guys also got a notice when I deleted the chapter about my other story and for that I'm sorry, didn't know it let you guys know when I delete a 'chapter' even if it was an AUTHOR NOTE in nature, sorry for that.**

 **Now then to start off a small apology with how long it been since the last chapter. I've been busy with other things in my life that when it came time to start writing again I was either too tired or not motivated to write so over the last 2 months would only end up writing a 1000 or two words every week or so and as such have been quite lazy in getting this chapter done.**

 **It didn't help when I changed what I was going to be doing this between seasons story about, having thought of something that I feel flows better and lets me have more for Season 2 instead.**

 **Now I don't want to keep you all as I'm sure most want to get to reading so with that I will leave you, for now, enjoy chapter 12 and the start of Volume 1.5.**

 **RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay Night is the property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting, only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Please support the original products.**

 **Edited by: M.H. Pintner**

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

 _ **The Fox and the Town**_

"And that concludes today lesson and this semester. I hope you all enjoy your two weeks off. Remember the Vytal Festival is a few months away so even with the brake, make sure to keep up in your training, good day." Glynda spoke out to the room, which was soon followed by her students' cheers.

It had been a week since the Docks incident and with it the final week of the first semester. After what happened at the docks, the nights rest the members of Team RWBY and JNPR all had been ones of bliss once they had returned to Beacon. They had hoped to spend as much time lazing in bed before the lesson in the morning, but sadly that wasn't going to happen as Ruby and Jaune got a message from the Headmaster to come to his office early in the morning, along with their teams.

They all knew this wasn't going to be pretty.

* * *

 _"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" the eight students winced at the tone of Miss Goodwitch. They had been called to Ozpin's Office at 6:30 in the morning and given they were out to just past midnight due to what happened at the docks, they all were still quite sleepy, but the yell had quickly woken them all up. When they first landed and saw no one there, they assumed they had got away with being out past curfew along with what happened at the docks, but given the glare, Miss Goodwitch was giving them, they were wrong._

 _The two teams' members looked towards their leaders, clearly indicating that they should answer given their position as team leaders (and push the focus on to them) as both Ruby and Jaune shock in place under Goodwitch's gaze. Ruby did whisper a harsh 'traitors' before looking to Jaune for support, but given he looked as white as a sheet and looked to be having a flashback like a War vet with PTSD it was clear her that he had been on the receiving end of Goodwitch's wrath before and it left scars. This only proved to make the young leader more nervous, but she swallowed her fear and stepped forward, this was her team's problem, so it was her job answered for it._

" _Well, you see- "_

" _Stop."_

 _Before she could answer, Glynda rose her had to stop her and released a tired sigh. She had been woken up around 1 am to the call from the Vale authorities about an incident at the docks and had spent the night and early morning dealing with the fallout. When she had learned it was a group of Beacon students along with a licensed Huntress that had caused the mess, she had gotten the names of the students who were involved and was both annoyed and NOT surprised to find out it was team RWBY and JNPR that were involved. Given all the messes the two teams had made in the first semester of the year it should have been obvious._

 _This had led to her returning to Beacon and getting Ozpin to call the two teams up to his office so she could grill the teams on what had happened the previous night. Given their bloodshot eyes and sluggish nature they were all still tired from last nights escapades but if she had to go without sleep, then so would they._

" _Don't answer, I already know given this is not the first time your two teams have been involved in something, but while bullies and missing homework are one thing, getting into a brawl with a known terrorist group inside the city itself is much more severe pulled hair." She finished with a slight growl getting the group to flinch back in fear, Yang herself doing so the most, Glynda comment on hair pulling being a clear shot at the brawler but it wasn't her fault! At least this time it wasn't._

 _Before Glynda could continue the sound of the elevator moving drew the room's attention, confusing both the students and Glynda. "I wonder who that could be? You weren't expecting anyone?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow while turning to look at Ozpin who had been sitting quietly behind her as she drilled into the two teams._

 _The man in question just had his ever-present mug up to his lips as he took a sip of its sweet nectar. Seeing his deputy's questioning look, which was mirrored by his students, he placed his mug down before answering. "Given the event at the Docks and the involvement of our two teams, I thought it best to invite the licensed Huntress that was also a part of the operation in the hope that she may shed some light for us." He explained getting surprised looked from his students and an understanding nod from Glynda._

 _"Of course, Headmaster, it would be best to see what this Huntress thought of bringing in our students in on such an operation. I must confess I was so focused on learning which of our student body was involved; I overlooked seeing who the involved professional was." She admitted getting a surprised look from her students the most of which was Jaune._

" _Wait? You mean you don't know she's here?" the words fell from his mouth without thought bringing Glynda's attention to him who now had a confused look on her face._

" _Who's here?"_

 _Before she could get an answer; however, the elevator door opened, and a blur crashed into Glynda before she could react, causing her to stagger back._

 _"WITCH-CHAN, ~!"_

 _While she may have been confused the flash of blue, pink and orange as well as the silly nickname clued her into who her current hugger was._

 _"Tamamo? What are you doing here?" she questioned as she pushed the Fox Faunus back to get a better look at her. She was quick to notice her students bewildered stares apart from Jaune who looked to be holding back a laugh and she could feel Ozpin doing the same behind her. Knowing this she quickly waved off her confusion and sent her trademark glare at the Fox girl, but unlike the others, Tam didn't freeze up. "You're the Huntress who was at the docks." She stated as a matter of fact, and Tamamo did little to persuaded otherwise._

" _Yep_ _~ What better way to spend a night with my brother and his Harem then stopping an armed robbery." She exclaimed with a smile, paying no mind to the shouts of denial and the veins slowly bulging on Glynda's head as she continued to talk about her fight against Roman. The others in the room did take notice Glynda's growing anger however as the two teams slowly backed up while Ozpin sank behind his desk to take cover, his hand reaching up to grab his mug from the potential blast zone._

 **'SLAP'**

" _OW!"_

 _The loud crash of Glynda's riding crop came down on Tamamo's head causing her to yelp like a wounded animal and drop into a crouch as she nursed the growing lump on her head as Glynda huffed her annoyance as she tapped her foot in frustration and armed crossed._

" _That huuuuurt ~" Tam wined as she looked towards Glynda with teary eyes but only got a hard look in return from the annoyed teacher. Seeing this she turned to see her brother and his friends step out from behind a small fort make of chairs and soon ran towards him with 'tears' running down her face, and she jumped into his arms for protection." Jauney! ~ Witch-Chan is mean to meeeeee! ~ sniff, sniff." she wailed once more as she was burying her face into his chest and 'crying' into it. Both Jaune and Glynda released a sigh at her actions with Glynda pinching her nose in annoyance as Jaune hugged his sister and started to rock her and rub her back, trying to 'sooth' her._

" _There, there, Tam, you know not to anger Miss Glyn when she's upset." He told her, sending an apologetic smile to the said woman who just shook her head and rolled her eyes. Hearing his words, Tam locked eyes with him, her eyes wide and pleading, which sent a small shiver up his spine, she was up to something._

 _"Kiss it better." She demanded, causing his cheeks to redden slightly, but he just rolled his eyes. With another sigh he leaned down and pressed his lips between her fox ears which twitched at the proximity to his face, using his aura to improve her recovery as his lips make contact Tamamo released a soft sigh as he drew back as he gave her a small smile which she returned._

" _There, better?" he asked with a raised eyebrow._

 _"Better." She replied as she snuggled into his warmth, he didn't have his armor on this time and as such gave off the warmth comfort, she was used to cuddling up to in their youth._

 _"I don't know how you can be the older sibling." Glynda groaned out, causing Tam to turn to her and poke her tongue out, getting another eye roll for the professor. "While it's under strange circumstance, it is good to see you again Tamamo," Glynda exclaimed as Tam and Jaune broke their hug as Tam tuned back to Glynda, a pleasant smile on both their faces and Tam gave the older woman a small bow of respect._

 _"And I you Sensei." She replied, getting odd looks from Jaune's friends._

 _"Sensei means teacher, did you use to go to Beacon?" Blake questioned getting the two huntress's attention along with her friends. Tamamo brought her hand up and moved it in a 'so-so' gesture as she explained their relationship._

 _"Yes, but not really. I worked as an apprentice under Gly-Miss Goodwitch here just before she was hired to Beacon." She said, getting a nod from the group, Glynda was the next to speak up continuing from Tamamo._

 _"Indeed, we had always planned to have me tutor Miss Arc here when she became 17, and I did so for a few months, but when the job offer for Beacon's combat instructor came, it was… an offer I could not refuse." She stated; it didn't go unnoticed her eyes shoot to Ozpin as she spoke of the offer._

 _Ozpin was the next to speak, seeing it was an excellent time to step in as well as cover for Glynda's somewhat of a slip. "Indeed, and we were happy to have her but with her apprenticing Miss Arc here, the question of whether to put her on a team came up, but we both know how that went." He finished getting a pout and huff from Tam._

 _"I spent all my life looking forward to learning under Witch-Chan, and I wasn't going to let your crummy school get in my way." She stated with an untuned nose, but Jaune chopped her head given she had just basically insulted the school in front of the Headmaster and his Deputy._

 _"Ignoring the insult to my school," Ozpin started sending Tam a look which she answered with poked her tongue at him, but he ignored it, "She refused to be placed on a team and go through Beacon. So instead she acted as an understudy/teaching assistant for Glynda's classes while in their spare time going over whatever else she needed for her role as a huntress. While I was skeptical at first, it went well, and within three years, Miss Arc here was given the clear to take the Hunter's exam and passed with flying colors. Soon after that, I promoted Miss Goodwitch to Deputy to better help them and the school as a whole," he finished getting nods from the groups._

" _More like you push your work onto me." Glynda grumped under her breath with the Faunus in the room heard as well as Ozpin, but they all chose to ignore it lest they become the target of her ire. As for the two teams, they had an understanding look on their faces. While they were a bit annoyed at Tamamo's words about Beacon could understand that her training under Miss Goodwitch was a long time plan for the two and that she didn't want to throw it away just because Beacon had given her teacher a good deal just after her studies had started._

 _"On to the matter at hand." Ozpins voice rang out, while Tamamo's arrival had caused a disturbance, his words went about bringing the room back into focus. "Miss Arc, the reason I asked you to come here is due to the fact our two teams here were involved with the incident at the docks last night. While the report states you were on short notice to the theft and as such asked for their assistance given your relation to Mr. Arc, the fact the two teams in question are only first year we had hoped you would be about to give us some more details on the incident itself and what lead you to the docks." He finished leaving the room quietly; the somewhat light atmosphere had become heavy with tension as they got back on track. Tamamo once again swapped to her more professional tone like she had at the dock when speaking to the police, clearly, her 'Professional Huntress' Mode given how serious she sounds and presents herself._

 _"Of course, Headmaster. I originally was meeting with Jaune and a few of his friends at Beacon seeing as I haven't seen him since he came to the school. In our discussion of recent events, the recent new of Dust robberies came up, and we ended up discussing a way in which to stop them. Given it was only Dust that was stolen and no Lien, it was clear to us only Dust was targeted and while traveling to Vale learned of a large Schnee Dust shipment coming into port yesterday afternoon." Tamamo began, the teams behind her noticed she had said she was initially meeting Jaune to talk with him and some friends, but they knew that was a lie. It was her interaction with Blake a few days prior, and her need to know if the White Fang were involved that lead to the docks but none of them moved to correct her. It was clear she was trying to cover them, so they wisely kept their mouths shut, even Nora. "We decided to see if our hunch was correct, and as you know, it was." She finished getting a nod from both teachers._

 _"I see, but if this is true, why didn't you just take this information to the authorities? It would have meant our students were not in danger." Glynda stated sending a meaningful look to the group who tried their best not to make eye contact. Tamamo didn't even flinch at her accusing gaze and continued._

 _"As I said it was just a hunch and even if it were to be true, at the time the robberies were simple 'smash and grab,' only Torchwick and a few men would force themselves into the shop and take as much Dust as posable. Given that information, we expected Torchwick to a given with a handful of minions, maybe a few more given the larger score but I could easily face Torchwick myself while Jaune and his friends dealt with the canon-fodder." She explained getting a nod from Ozpin, but Glynda was still unconvinced._

" _How would you have known the students could stand up to his goons?" she questions, sending the group a quick glare to stop any argument and given Yang and Nora's mouths snapped shut it was needed._

 _Tamamo, however, rolled her eyes a small smirk breaking through her professional deminer as she counters, "We both know that was never a concern. I believe Miss Rose was granted early enrolment into Beacon for defeating such a group if I am correct?" She said getting a huff from Goodwitch and a surprised squeak at the mention of her name from Ruby._

" _How'd you know?" she couldn't help but blurt out getting Tamamo to turn and look at her._

" _Someone getting into Beacon two years early while not big news to the general public is quite the shock in the Professional Hunter world, especially for one of the big 4." She finished getting a small nod from the girl who was sprouting a little blush knowing she was a lot more known they she expected or wanted, what happened to NORMAL KNEES?!_

" _Continuing on when it became clear our hunch was true the fact it was the White Fang came as a shock, but when Roman appeared as well, it was clear the situation was larger than expected. Given a high-class criminal was now in partnership with a known terrorist cell, we moved to eliminate the threat before it could grow in size. I faced Torchwick like we planed while the others eliminated the White Fang, but as the fighting went on more appeared adding to the severalty of the situation. After 15-minute Roman used a distraction to escape while we finished any of the remaining White Fang." Tamamo finished leaving the room in silence._

 _After a few tense moments, Glynda released another sigh and turned to Ozpin for his input on what they just heard and after a few moments be began. "While the inclusion of our students was a bit short-sighted, the appearance of the White Fang was something no one could have predicted. I will also consider the fact the two teams with you would more than likely have been able to match any normal thugs Torchwick could have rounded up, so your logic is sound. I see no point in reprimanding the two teams for this, at most, they were going in with a licensed huntress against street thugs and a single known criminal, the changes the Fang were involved were whole unpredictable, so I can't in good conscious punish them for that." He finished as a sigh of relief washed over the two teams,_

" _However," they froze, "If any other criminal activity shows up, please leave it to a professional. While your skills are not in question, your experience is still something to be honed, your time at Beacon will do this. But like all good things, they come to those that wait. Am I understood?" he asked, getting nods from his eight students causing him to give his own with a smile._

 _Seeing the meeting was over Tamamo came out of her 'Huntress mode,' and a chipper smile grew across her face as she spun on her heels and strolled over to Jaune and took him by the arm and pulled him towards the elevator. "Well, since this is all over, Jaune and I can start his holiday off with a trip to Vale." She exclaimed, drawing a confused look from the group._

" _Sis? I've still got class." Jaune said, his words caused Tam to freeze, even her tail stopped swinging, stopping perfectly still._

" _What?" she asked._

 _"Um, I've still got a week of classes left. The brake is next week." He told her with a guilty voice, it was clear she was excited to spend the break with him, but it seemed she got the days wrong._

" _What!? But I thought you finished?!" she exclaimed with a pleading look directed to her brother, but the sheepish smile and shoulder shrug told her otherwise. Turning to Glynda and Ozpin, she sent them a pleading look. "Can't he skip the last week?" she asked, but the stern gaze of Miss Goodwitch met her begging eyes. And they held no salvation._

 _"No.," the blonde Huntress said sternly._

" _Oh, come onnnn_ _! Please_ _!" Tamm begged._

 _Soon the room was filled with Tamamo's pleads and Glynda's stone cold denial leaving the students and Ozpin too watch on in confusion and amusement. Seeing the two would not be done soon, Ozpin dismissed the two teams leading them to move into the elevator. However, before they could leave Ozpin called out to the group, two people individually._

" _Miss Belladonna, Miss Schnee." Given your past relations to the group in question, I do hope neither of you were affected by their sudden presences and that it will not affect your studies." He softly said, getting the two to stiffen up. Both girls silently shook their heads, not trusting their voices, but Ozpin didn't seem to mind as he sent them a smile and nod, along them to join their team and friends in the elevator. Before the door closed, one last thing was heard._

" _You're so uptight; maybe, you should get laid?"_

" _TAMAMO!"_

* * *

After that, the last week of school went on with relative normalcy, but there was one thing that happened that made it more interesting.

"BYB, BYE! ~ It was nice working with you all! ~"

"BYE, MISS, TAMAMO! ~"

Jaune released a sigh as he turned to see his sister Tamamo standing next to Glynda waving as his classmates left the room, a few calling out in reply, some with a bit more enthusiasm then most but they were quick to scurry off when Jaune's head snapped in their direction.

Apparently, Tamamo had spent the whole morning trying to get Jaune out of lessons for the week so she could spend time with him, but Glynda hadn't budged. Before they knew it, Combat Class was about to start, and Tamamo had yet to leave, her presence confusing some of the students. Before Glynda could dismiss her, Tamamo had decided if Jaune couldn't leave Beacon, she would stay and had introduced herself as a huntress who was going to be assisting Miss Goodwitch for the last week of the term, calling on her Aura and Dust expertise as a reason to stay and help. While Glynda had been annoyed, it was better than having her ear nagged off and decided to see how the first class went and was surprised to see it go over well. For the remaining of Miss Goodwitch's lessons, Tamamo was there to give her own advice and support to the students and was quick to become a class favorite bar a few racists, but they didn't dare speak there disdain aloud after the first guy did.

Having his sister in the class had proven to be quite an embarrassing time for the male leader as her over affective cheers, and hugging had drawn people's attention to him. A rumor of them being in a relationship was quick to arise, but when it came to light, they were related, it died out. Mostly. A shiver raced up his spine at the thought of that, while he would never deny that his sisters were anything but beautiful and that he loved them all, blood relation or not they were still his sisters and found it slightly disturbing to be in a relationship with any of them.

"Jaune? Are you alright?" his partner's voice spoke from his side; Pyrrha had noticed him shiver and was wondering if something was wrong. Her voice drew is and their other team members attention as Nora was skipping along with her head tilted in their direction while Ren was arching an eyebrow in question.

Seeing he had drifted off Jaune shock his head while sending Pyrrha a reassuring smile, "I'm fine, just remembered something unpleasant is all." He explained, waved her worry off, "Anyway now that the holidays are in do any of you have planned?" he asked, wanting to get his mind off topic and given the thinking looks on his teams faced it had.

"We don't have much planned for the brake so we will most likely stay at Beacon for the brake." Ren calmly stated getting a "Yep" from Nora. Jaune could only nod his head in understanding having been told by his male friend the two were orphans, so he knew they had no home to go to for the brake. His eyes turned to his own partner, who shook her head.

"I had no plans to travel to Argus for the small part, but I may do so. My agent has already been giving me calls about coming back to do some advertisements and other things over there, but I already stated I was focusing on my Huntress career before Beacon started so if I did, it would be to visit family." She finished, releasing a grown of annoyance at the mention of her old agent. While a lovely woman and a family friend, when Pyrrha rose to fame, she got a little out of hand with any brand deals she made. While cool for a 13-year-old, over the four years of her stardom it had slowly ground on the redhead and when it came time to head for a secondary Hunter School to start her career, she had tried to get Pyrrha not to bother and focus on her image and celebrity status. That was something Pyrrha couldn't live with; she had wanted to use her talent to help people, not to become a celebrity, something she was growing sick of.

When she had not budged on her decision to become a Huntress her agent had begged her to a least try and do both by staying in Argus so she could go to the local school while continuing her budding modeling career but Pyrrha had put her foot down and left for Beacon much to her agent's dismay. When she had first arrived at Beacon, she had been dismayed to learn her fame had even spread to Vale and maybe even the other two kingdoms and had believed she was doomed to be lonely. But lucky for her, she had met Jaune, and soon her other friends who either didn't care for her fame or in Jaune's case didn't even know who she was. Thinking of her time at Beacon, she could only thank Oum for how lucky she was with the people she had met and could only look forward to what was to come in the future.

"I didn't plan on heading back home for the brake either, so it looks like we're going to have to plan some activities for the brake." He finished getting nods from his teammates.

"Don't worry little brother, for the next week at least your all mine. " a voice purred in his ear as a pair of arms wrapped under his shoulders. Startled at first, Jaune could only release a tired sigh as Tamamo had snuck up on him and latched herself onto his back.

"Can't this wait till tomorrow?" he sighed out having had to deal with his sister's antics for the whole week.

"How can you be so cold; I even spent a week at Beacon helping you out in class, and the second you're free you don't want to spend time with me?" she asked with a pout with crocodile tears running down her face.

"That's your own fault for coming a week early than when I finished." He replied with a flat expression getting an embarrassed giggle from his sister who hid from his team's gaze when they started to stare at the Fox Faunus with their own deadpan expressions, having learned of the Faunus wanting to spend to holiday with him but showing up a week early by mistake.

"Stupid school date changing." She muttered into his back, getting him to roll his eyes. While his sister had been spending her time at Beacon to interact with Jaune and his team she had on more than one occasions complained about her time with Jaune being cut for a week due to the change in dates.

"Alright, I promise to spend the first week with you as much as possible, how does that sound?" he asked getting Tam's ears to perk up as her face soon removed itself from his spine, a smile growing on her face at his works while a small pit of dread grew in his stomach.

"Really?" She asked.

"Sure." Said Jaune.

"Yes! We're going shopping!" she cried as soon as the deal was struck and it was then Jaune knew he had messed up.

"Oooh, can we come?" Nora cheerfully asked, wanting to also spend time with her team and her leader's sister.

"Sure, you can!" Tam was quick to invite the rest of his team, Nora and Pyrrha were quite happy to spend the first few days of the holiday in Vale shopping with Jaune's sister, but for Jaune, it quickly dawned on him what was about to happen.

"I'm sorry Ren," Jaune apologized with an air of dread around him which confused his friend.

"I'm alright with it, Jaune. I've been shopping with Nora before, and I'm looking forward to our team outing." The team ninja calmly stated, not knowing what was in store for him and his leader when multiple girls got together for a shopping spree, but that was soon to change.

* * *

"When will it end?" Ren flatly questioned as he dragged himself along with Jaune, both covered in bags as their respective partners and Jaune's Sister skipped ahead of the duo. It was the first Thursday of the holiday and as Tamamo had stated they had spent the last few DAYS shopping in the different areas of Vale. While they had spent a long time at Beacon not much time was free for the students to explore Vale and while the last weekend had been spent exploring the vast city they had never gone exploring what the large city had to offer. As such Tamamo had gone about showing them what there was to do in the city.

They had spent the last three days traveling around the commercial district that took up the northern side of Vale, going from store to store, spending hours in the arcades that covered the large area. Tamamo still planned to see the rest of Vale over the next few days all the while Nora and Pyrrha happily go along with her while Ren and Jaune are dragged along.

"I tried to warn you." Jaune groaned himself but unlike Ren wasn't dragging himself as much, being dragged on shopping trips with his family in his youth got him accustomed to the strain of shopping bags.

"Oh, stop whining you two, what's carrying bags when you get to spend the day with three beautiful women?" Tamamo chimed as she sent to two males a playful smirk while Nora and Pyrrha giggled at their expense.

"I speak for the both of us when I say we have no problem spending the day with you three." Jaune started getting smiles from all three women, "The issue is we spent the last four days doing nothing but shopping!" Ren finished, losing some of his calm demeanor and he waved the six bags hanging from his arm. Pyrrha and Nora started to giggle guiltily as they sent their partner's apologetic looks. While they had a girl's night every week along with team RWBY, they rarely went shopping with the girls, usually spending time going out to eat, talking and watching films/TV. Yang had tried to get them to go to a club, but only she was interested with Pyrrha, Blake and Weiss preferring quite places while Nora and Ruby were too childish for such a scene (Oum hope what Nora would be like Drunk). With Tamamo showing them around they had ended up following the confident Faunus's lead and ended up doing what they would do on girl night, but it had lasted the last few days with the boys being dragged along.

Tamamo herself just rolled her eyes at them before she sent them a mischievous smile. "Well, I didn't hear any complaints when Miss. Valkyrie and Miss. Nikos here were modeling some clothes for you." She sang as the four members of JNPR were quick to go red and turn away from each other, causing Tamamo to laugh more. The two females had asked for their partner's opinions on several outfits they had tried throughout their time in Vale much to the guy's embarrassment given how cute or beautiful they had ended up looking, even if a few were a bit strange.

"It's not like we have only done shopping; we spent a few hours at the arcade," Pyrrha said trying to get away from their embarrassing time showing off to the boys, seeming Nora was quick to help with when stars shone in her eyes with a giant grin on her face.

"Yeah, you two were so AWESOME on the dancing game!" she cheered while Ren and Jaune sent each other a challenging smile.

"Who would have thought we would tie in the end." The quitter of the two stated, returning to his calm and collected self.

"I know, right? My older sisters taught me how to dance, mainly Nero but still, I didn't expect you to be able to dance?" said Jaune, getting a nod from Tam while Ren tilted his head at the questioning tone.

"Nora and I are mostly self-taught, and my fighting style revolves around quickly movements and footwork and as a kid a good way to train it was to play that game, not to mention its fun." He answered, getting a nod from the group. They continued to make their way through Vale, the sun peering over the city as it slowing make its descent as the afternoon hours rolled by. Seeing this, the group decided to make their way towards the transit hub to get a Bullhead to Beacon where they were surprised to see RWBY was waiting.

"Oh, Hey, Guys!" Ruby cheered drawing her team's attention to the five people group.

"Hey, Rubes, heading back as well?" Jaune asked as he and Ren dumped the large assortment of bags on the floor as they took seats next to their sister team.

"Yep, just spent the day wandering around Vale, went to a few weapon shops and stuff." She said getting a nod from her fellow leader, the others getting into their own conversation with Weiss, Blake, Pyrrha and Nora chatting together with Ren sitting near his partner with his eyes closed, clearly having one of his power naps while the Bullhead waited to leave. Nearby Tamamo and Yang were having their own conversation and given the giggling and laughing they were doing both leaders knew it was about them.

"Same, got a few hours in the Arcade ourselves but it was mostly spent in shops" he answered back while gesturing towards the heap of bags at their feet getting an understanding nod from the fellow leader.

"I'm not one for clothes shopping, but Yang would drag me out and play 'doll' with me when I was younger." She said with a shiver, one which Jaune mirrored.

"I completely understand, my sisters did the same. Still, do if I let them." He grumbled with Ruby also mirrored, the laugh that came from their older sibling that make it seem like they knew what they were talking about didn't help.

Soon the Bullhead started moving, and the group continued chatting for the 15-minute ride up the Beacon cliff where they landed and started to make their way off while making their way towards the Dorm rooms they spotted Miss Goodwitch making their way over towards the group.

"Good evening, children, Tamamo." She greeted with her regular stern expression. Brake or not she still had an image to uphold in public, even if she was closer to them then other students due to family. The group greeted her back with Tamamo stepping forward to greet her old teacher.

"Heyo Witch-Chan! Is something the matter?" she asked with a tilt of her head, Glynda slightly nodded her head as she looked down at her scroll and quickly clicked through something before answering.

"Indeed, I was wondering if I could ask you to deal with a Grimm Nest that we were just informed about." She asked, getting a fascinating look from her along with the two teams.

"What type of nest?"

"A Taijitu nest that was located in the South-East of Vale near the bottom of the Emerald Forest," Glynda stated, getting a sigh from the fox Faunus.

"Can't you just give it to a 3rd or 4th year or something, even another Hunter?" she questions getting a sigh from Glynda.

"Only a few students from the higher years are at Beacon at the moment, either on missions already or away for the holiday and while I could hire another hunter it would save us the hassle to do so if we could get someone here to it, but I'm too busy as are the other teachers here. Think of it as payment for your room and board." She finished getting a whine from the other woman.

"But this could take all day!" she complained, getting an eye roll from the older woman, starting to try and get out of the job.

"We can help." A voice spoke, stopping the two who turned to see Jaune was the one to offer help. The two teams had been curious about the mission Glynda wanted Tamamo to do and had been listening in, seeing all eyes on him he elaborated. "My team was planning to spend the day with Tamamo anyway, and it would be a nice change from going to Vale again. It will also give us some experience and if we help it will be finished faster and be less of a risk to send only my sister" He explained getting a curious look from Glynda who played his idea out in her head.

"That sound AWESOME!" Nora cried, a giddy smile on her face as she hopped in place, "While I like all the shopping, we've been doing I want some action! And nothing does action better than crushing Grimm!" she finished as she started to laugh like a maniac, exited for the potential carnage to come.

"It would be nice to get some experience in, not to mention it would be more enjoyable than more shopping" Ren weighed in in his usually collected manner. but his jab at the last few days didn't go unnoticed as Nora poked her tongue out at him while Pyrrha rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment and whispered an "I'm Sorry…" under her breath.

"Ahem', I too, think joining the mission is a wonderful idea," Pyrrha added herself after collecting herself from Ren's slight jab. Showing all of team JNPR were supporting their leader's idea Glynda could only simile and nod as she started typing away at her scroll.

"If that is what you wish I see no problem assigning Team JNPR to the mission as well." She said getting a cheer from Nora and thanks from the rest, however before she could finalize the listing another voice spoke out.

"We can help too!" Ruby cheered as she speeds next to Jaune much to his and his team's shock and incidentally her own partner as Weiss tried to pull Ruby back.

"Ruby! You can't just force-" before she could continue scolding the younger girl she was cut off by the girl's older sister.

"Yeah! You don't think you can leave us out of all the Fun!" Yang added as she slammed her fists together with a challenging smirk on her face with Ruby next to her with a determined look on her face as she nods her head in agreement. Weiss released an annoyed groaned at the behavior of her leader and teammate for support. But when her eyes met Blake's the Cat Faunus only sent her a shrug and small smile as she moved to join her partner and leader leaving Weiss to start cursing her team under her breath but was quick to join them anyway.

"Well, too bad, this is a JNPR mission!" Nora told them getting into a small shouting match with Yang over if they could come or not. As the two powerhouses 'fought' the rest watched on while Glynda and Weiss rubbed their eyes in annoyance, Ren and Blake watched on in indifference and Ruby, Pyrrha and Jaune tried to calm the two down while Tamamo watched on in amusement. After a minute, Glynda had enough and slapped her crop down, drawing the groups attention, seeing this she took a deep breath before talking.

"If you two continue to fight I'll just send your teams out while keeping the two of you here where you can help me around the school grounds, how does that sound?" she challenged with got the two girls to teleport to their partner's sides and away from each other. Nodding at their cause, she turned to Tamamo with a rose brow. "It's up to you Tamamo, are you alright with Team RWBY joining?" she asked, in response, Tamamo looked in thought before just waving the choice off with a smile.

"I don't mind if they join, just means we finish faster." She dismissed getting a cheer for Yang and Ruby while Nora gave a whine of defeat, but Ren was there to comfort her in this loss. Seeing everything was set Glynda let the group know the mission would start in the morning and gave her farewell which allowed the others to start heading back to their room with Jaune and Ren finally get help from their partner while Tamamo took her stuff and left for her private room.

As Team RWBY and JNPR made their way towards their rooms, they started to discuss the upcoming mission with Yang and Nora betting on which team would get more kills. Their partners were trying to reign them in with Ruby and Jaune discussing tactics to use, their partners giving their own input as they slowly make their way to their rooms, plans for the following day in motion.

* * *

*Grunt*

*Slap*

"Agg."

"Sorry Pyrrha, didn't mean to hurt you."

"hehe, it's alright Jaune; it's to be expected."

The sky over Beacon was awash with the orange glow of the setting sun and the creeping purple of the coming night. The sound of grunts and skin slapping filled the air of the dormitory roof were Jaune and Pyrrha are going blow for blow, both were wearing clothes as they trained under the wilting hours of the day. The had finished the talk with Ms. Goodwitch hours ago and since then had come to the roof where Jaune had confessed his past to Pyrrha to train. The spot had become a sort of getaway spot for the pair as well as a place for the two to train in peace. While the student body may be training to be hunters, they are still teenagers and as such Jaune and Pyrrha tend to draw eyes in the gym, for Pyrrha her fame and the first night 'show' for Jaune.

"While it's nice to be using Excalibur again, I don't want to get rusty in hand to hand. I can already tell I've become sluggish." Jaune said as he dashed towards Pyrrha who moved to defend herself as her partner came in with a jab which she sides stepped and grasped, pulling Jaune towards herself and of balance. Sadly, Jaune was used to Pyrrha's grappling style and jumped towards her and lashing out with a knee forcing her to let go and block with her own.

"Indeed, I have been neglecting my skills in unarmed combat, but I'm sure our time up here together will help us both." She replied, making her assault as she aimed a palm strike at his chest which he blocked and retaliated with a shot to her stomach. The two were now locked in a close quarters dance as both combatants tried to land a hit on the other but with no luck as each attack from one was blocked by the other. Fists flew, legs clashed, and grapples were broken as they tried to one-up the other. But after another 10 minutes of back and forth, Jaune was the one to slip up when he overextended a straight left which Pyrrha moved past and hooked her foot around his own and threw him harshly to the floor, knocking the wind out of the blond. As Jaune gulped for air, it was once again forced out of him when Pyrrha landed on his gut and had grasped his arms to locking him under her. He tried to wiggle free but with no breath and over an hour of sparing was too tired to fight back and his head in surrender as he tried to catch his breath. Pyrrha herself was breathing heavy as she relaxed seeing Jaune surrender, it was rare for her to be so tired after a spar, but Jaune had proven to be quite the stamina monster.

She often wondered what he had to do to get to such a level, but she already knew, he didn't always rely on aura to sustain himself in a fight. He trained without the mysterious power of humanity for 80% of his life and got to an absurd level so when he finally unlocked his aura, which itself was an abnormally large amount in of itself his stamina rocketed to A-Class, maybe even low S in an instant.

Aura is the live blood of Hunters; it gives the usual benefits with a shield around the body as well as a passive increase to strength speed and stamina. Most people training to become a hunter would unlock their aura between 11 and 13 years old, generally at one of the primary hunter school. The Arc family being one of the exceptions where they unlock their aura themselves as a way to avoid the small lose of aura that comes with having it unlocked by another but even then, its always before their 13th birthday. By doing this, it allows the hunter to train with their aura from the start of their training and as such they learn to passively use it in their day to day lives as to be better ready to use it in battle. What people forget is with the unlocking of aura comes some side effects that while minimal, can somewhat affect a hunter.

The first and foremost difference between a person with aura and one without is not power or speed or longevity, it's how the Grimm react to them. While all living things apart from the Grimm have an aura, those with it unlocked are more likely to be targeted by the dark creatures of Remnant.

The general consensus is that while all life has aura it is sealed within the body, acting as part of a person's life force, not all of it as sealing aura is also possible, and a person would still live afterward, but given how painful it is, it is only used on criminals that are seen as scum. But when aura is unlocked, or 'Awakened,' it comes to the forefront of the body, no longer just an internal power but now external as well and with it leaving the use barer to the world and as such, more appealing to the Grimm hordes. Its why only hunters have their aura unlocked. If all of Humanity had their Aura unlocked, the Grimm would most likely go into a frenzy and attack the Kingdoms which can never be allowed to happen.

The other aspect that is affected is a person's physical growth. Now while the Hunter will still grow stronger and taller with age like normal, the passive increase Aura gives to strength, speed, and stamina, causing the hunter to have to work harder to increase their power. For example, if a person can sprint at full speed, say 20mph without aura, then they unlock it and can now run 40mph, their speed has just doubled by unlocking their aura, positive. But now if they want to run at 60mph reaching that level is going to be much more difficult as the aura has not doubled their speed, it has just increased their speed by 20mph. It like climbing a hill that gets steeper the more you climb, aura allows you to jump farther up the slope instantly, but now it's going to take more work to continue climbing.

For most hunters this is seen as a small loss as given how young Aura is unlocked it doesn't have much effect since most 12-year-olds aren't going to be strong enough to undertake hunter training regularly so having aura allows them to train younger. But for someone like Jaune who had trained to match his physical fitness with those with aura before gaining his own, when he was finally able to unlock his own at 15, he had been able to jump ahead of those in his age group. Why others don't do this themselves is due to just how much harder it is to pall off, and the only reason Jaune did it was able to do it was only due to his dedication to becoming a hunter.

'It also explains how he was ripped' Pyrrha those to her self with a tinge of red on her cheeks as she looked at Jaune's chest where his muscular frame was clear to see against his tight and sweaty shirt. It was here as she locked eyes with her partner that it dawned on her what she was doing in both looking at him and in her position was quite scandalous, she was straddling him, out of breath with his arms held down. Not to mention their faces and grown closer in her muse so to the outside viewer it would seem like they were about to have a heated moment together and this thought caused Pyrrha to blush up even more.

"I'm sorry!" with a cry the redhead jumped back off her partner and sat facing away from him, hand on her cheeks as she tried to calm her racing heart and burning face, steam rising from her heated form.

"It's fine, Pyr." Jaune seemly casually answered as he sat up, having not noticed his partner's dilemma much to both her relief and sadness. "That was a good spar, but we should stop now, big day tomorrow." He continued getting a nod from his partner, allowing to two to sit on silence as they watched the last of the sun's rays disappear. "Think it's about time to head down now; we should get a shower before bed, don't want to rush in the morning." He said as he got to his feet, turning to lock eyes with Pyrrha, "Do you want to go first?" he asked, but Pyrrha shook her head and sent him a small smile.

"I'm gonna do a few stretches first so you can go ahead; I'll be down in a bit." She explained getting a nod and smile from Jaune who moved to leave the roof.

"Well, don't be up here too long, summer might be around the corner, but it can still be cold at night, and we don't want our champion to catch a cold now." He joked, getting a small laugh from the still sitting girl.

"hehe, just go!"

"Ok, ok. See you in a bit."

When the door close after Jaune left the smile on her face grew slightly smaller, and her eyes lost some of the sparkle in them as she released a small sigh. As she looked over the dimply lit grounds of Beacon, she couldn't help but curse herself for getting flushed. It had been more than four months since she met the blond leader, and from their first interaction, a spark had been lit in Pyrrha chest when it came to Jaune.

At first, it had been nothing more than a need for true friendship, having been somewhat of a loner due to her fame. Having Jaune come into her life, she was finally able to get not just a friend but a best one along with multiple others with her team and RWBY. As the first month went on and she saw him struggle she wanted nothing more than to help Jaune out but having no experience with others was slow to do so. When she finally did confront him and learned what had him down, she could only feel both admiration and a small bit of anger for him handicapping himself but could never blame him, he was hurting and as such locked away the thing that caused the conflict with his friends and sister, gaining Excalibur.

After the event at Forever Fall thing only started going up for her relationship with her team and Jaune most of all, the two were almost inseparable as both friends but as hunters, maybe being around Ren and Nora had caused the two the drift so close. But it didn't matter to Pyrrha because as time went on the small spark in her chest had grown, from wanting friends, to wanting a best friends. The spark had grown more and more and after what happened at Forever Falls, how scared she was for him she realized she had started to want Jaune as more than a best friend, this feeling had only grown with what had happened at the dock and now it was becoming too much for the Mistralian girl.

"Oh Jaune," she whispered, she had been using the last few days to find a time to confront her leader about her growing feelings but was to scared and embarrassed to face him, even just now when all she had to do was lean a bit more forward she had become embarrassed and backed off. "*sigh* Want am I going to do?"

"What you need Miss. Nikos, is to stop thinking."

"EEP!"

Pyrrha jumped out of her skin and almost snapped her neck given how fast her head turned to took above the door where a lying Tamamo was sending her a teasing smile, her tail lazily swinging as she watched Pyrrha become as red as her hair.

"How long have you been there?!" Pyrrha panicky asked, to flushed to calm herself.

"Long enough to see you have my brother pinned down under you." Tamamo purred causing Pyrrha to hind her face with her hands, a muffled "I'm sorry!'"Causing Tam to roar in laughter. After finally getting her laugh under control her eyes returned to the still blushing girl, she couldn't help but release a small chuckle at how obvious the young girl was being in her affection for her brother but was having trouble catching his eyes. "I'm also sorry."

"No, no, it's OK." Pyrrha tried to wave off, thinking it was for the teasing, but when she saw Tam shake her head, she became confused.

"Not for the teasing, for how much of an oblivious blockhead my brother is being." She said, getting a confused and flushed squeak from the girl.

"Wh- what do you mean?" she worryingly asked getting Tam to roll her eyes.

"Come on; it's painfully obvious you want my brother~." She said, getting more blushing from the girl. "But if you want to get with him your gonna have to beat around the bush less." She stated getting her attention. "he's spent his whole life with four overbearing older sisters and three clingy, for the most part, younger sisters. Not to mention Mother as well, so he's used to having girls show him some form of affection. so if you want to have him for yourself, you're going to have to be a bit more forward and obvious with your feelings." She said getting Pyrrha to look down in worry.

"It's not they easy." Pyrrha murmured.

"It can or can't be easy," Tamamo said getting Pyrrha to lock eyes with her. "Love is always going to be either complicated or simple. Take me, for example, I love my brother with all my heart, and if I had my way, I would love to date him." She shamelessly confessed, causing Pyrrha to start blushing and stuttering, but before she could make any words, Tam rose her hand to silence her. "I know that we are brother and sister, but it's not by blood in any way so I could leave the family and start dating him. But I've seen him grow from a child to the man he is now and in all that time its been as his sister so even if a part of me wants to see him as a potential lover it is dwarfed by the sisterly love, I have for him. *sigh* How cruel life is when the only man who meets my standards is my brother." She stated with a dramatic flourish of her hand, causing Pyrrha to release a strained laugh.

"But I can't just come out with it, what if he rejects me and It ruins our friendship or the team, its too risky." Pyrrha confessed as she once again looked over Beacon, "I don't want to lose my friend."

"Friends is all you'll ever be if you don't even try." Tamamo sighed out as she hopped down from the door, Pyrrha didn't need to answer know how accurate the statement was. "If I was in your shoes I'd moved fast. While he tried to not think about it, he is quite the catch and sooner or later others are going to start moving to snatch him up. I've seen one or two look his way already, and I've only been here a week and a half." Tamamo added, causing Pyrrha to look up, whether it's in surprise or fear Tamamo didn't ask, she just released another sigh and opened the door. "Either way we have a mission in the morning and you need a shower. Jaune isn't going to start dating you if you smell like, that." She joked while scrunched her nose.

"I'm Sorry!" Pyrrha cried as she rose to her feet and started making her way over, Tamamo's words weighing heavy in her mind. If what she said was true then she would have to really think about confessing to Jaune, lest she loses her chance.

"Besides, I'm rooting for you!" Tamamo suddenly said.

"REALLY?!" Pyrrha excitedly asked, getting a nod from the Fox Faunus.

"Of Course! How else will I explain this picture to the family if you don't get together?" she questions bringing out her scroll to show Pyrrha a picture of her straddling Jaune, the dusking sky lighting up the scene giving it a very romantic look. When Pyrrha mind finally understood what it was, her face went pale and bright red at the same time as she locked eyes with Tamamo's.

"I'm sorry." She said on reflex getting a devious smile in return.

"I'm not."

* * *

 **And done, I hope you all enjoyed it, I think I'm a bit rusty after the break so please bear with me while I get back into writing.**

 **I hope you have all been well over April and May since I was last on here, I had a birthday so that another year has gone. I've mostly been playing games, doing work, and watching films over the break. At the start, I got the new Fate game for PS4 and had tones of fun with that and not long after that Borderlands 3 was announced along with the remaster for the first one so I picked that up and 100% that. I also picked up the handsome Jack Collection for PC (had BL2 already so) and have been making my way thought BL2 and its DLC and plan to do the Pre-sequel for the first time soon as well, so I'm looking forward to that as well. Speaking of Games, I also have to get back into FF14 for Shadow Bringers next month, got to get my Paladin boy through all the new story stuff since I haven't played since the Monster Hunter cross over, which has DLC coming soon too, I got a lot to look forward to.**

 **Now onto movies, just saw like all of the DC stuff, Justice League was sad to watch, Shazam was quite fun and enjoyable, but Aquaman was great, my sister and I were cracking up watching it, it was great. But you can't talk about DC without Marvel and as such here's my review of Captain Marvel.**

 **Uhh…**

 **Now onto more important stuff like Endgame cause holy fuck that's a fucking film, I legit almost cried watching it, it was so good, I'm not going to say anything ng just in case but my god it was one of the best films in recent years.**

 **Also, the full Spiderman trailer confirmed a theory I had on what was to happen in phase 4, so that nice to know.**

 **And I just saw Godzilla the other day and that was a lot of Fun as well. Even ordered the monster posters as well which look awesome.**

 **Now that my rabbles are over its time to answer the question I from the last chapter since I didn't do a QnA like I said (oops)**

 **Sonicdude8/** **Dxhologram –** I'm glad you liked that little twist. I wanted to add someone for Jaune to fight and Cu was the first to come to mind as with it I had to come up with a reason to have him there and luckily the idea of making him a Faunus was quick to come to mind, the rest kind of fell into place and when I ran the idea past my editor they gave a positive response, so I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 **Mirador Figmentum Scriptor/ The Last Kenpachi/Phoenix Champion** – Sorry to say, guys, I didn't even know who this Kiyohime was until I read this, but I can see why you thought it would be her. When it comes to Fate, I only have the Anime and the PS4 games to get my knowledge from so I may be lacking when it comes to many of the heroes, I can pick from, but I'll try to expand both my knowledge and as such roster to choose from.

 **NinjaFang1331/ Lonyer182-** I'm glad you liked the fight; I'll try and do fight like that in the future and hope to make them just as exciting.

 **Rider126-** Not sure, I am taking a few creative liberties with the character, but I can say she is from Arthurian legends for a hint.

 **Midnight Scribe –** Opps sorry about getting it wrong, I'll make sure to check I get peoples titles to write in the future, thanks for letting me know.

 **NyaNyaKittyFace-** I called it words of Power myself, and it would depend on how much aura she supplies to the talisman along with what grade of Dust she uses to write the word out. Think of Aura as Mana and the talismans as spells, depending on how much magic power she puts into them with change how strong the effect is.

 **Mirator Figmentum Scriptor-** you too (even if it's a month after)

 **And that's that, a few people also mentioned some stuff others did so I may not have put your name down but have a look, I may have answered you.**

 **Now here is something new as well, I finished this chapter a few days ago but I still had an idea for two scene but felt they cut the flow of the chapter so instead im but them here as Omakes! Don't know if I'll do this for every chapter but if I think of something fun that doesn't fit in the chapter I'll add them at the end so I hope you enjoy!**

 **OMAKE**

 **Dance Fighters: Arcade Edition**

The air was filled with chimes and digital music as Team JNPR and Tamamo stepped into one of West Vales larger arcades as Nora's head snapped around as she tried to pick what game to ply first but while her excitement is obvious the males of the team seam more so as their trip here meant a break from the shopping.

"Ohhh, what should I do first?! Burn some rubber on Remnants of Speed? Blast some alien scum in Shattered Moon? Or smash some Beowolf on the Grimm Smasher!" Nora exited listed off pointing to the aforementioned racing, shooting and lastly Whac-A-Grimm game.

"Nora, you're not allowed on a Whac-A-Grimm after the last one you destroyed." Ren calmly stated, his own gaze moving over the arcade in search of something.

"Oh, ye, poop." Nora grumbled drawing a giggle from the other female members of the group.

"Why is- wait, never mind, its Nora." Jaune was about to ask before dismissing getting Nora to poke her tough at him in a huff. As Jaune own eyes scanned over the flashing lights of different machines his eyes caught something that caused a smile to quickly grow on his face as he started moving towards it drawing his groups attention.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha questioned moving to follow her leader, the other doing so themselves a moment after, moving through the arcade, trying not to bump any of the other people there. When they finally caught up to Jaune he was standing inform of a large machine that had a large screen and two platforms in front of it, each with 4 directional arrows on them.

"WOAH DANCE FIGHTERS!" Nora cried in excitement a large grim growing on her face which was mirrored by Jaune who past Pyrrha the bags he was carrying as he stepped onto the right platform as he fished a lien out his wallet.

"Yep, always had to have a go on it whenever we hit the arcades back in Camelot." He stated as he slipped his lien into the machine causing it to release a shape noise.

 _ **LET'S DANCE**_

Jaune smiled as he heard the announcer cry those words, a list of songs coming up on screen allowing him to find something he wanted but before he could choose the machine once again release a shape noise.

 _ **LOOK LIKE A DANCE BATTLE**_

Hearing that Jaune head snapped to the since where he met the smirking face of his brother in arms Ren.

"You play?" he asked getting quick nod.

"Indeed, I to always make sure to have a game or two whenever Me and Nora were at an arcade." He stated getting a nod from Jaune who soon had a challenging smile on his face which Ren soon mirrored.

"Oooh! ~ this is gonna be awesome!" Nora stated as she watched the two boys stare each other down.

"Indeed, I wonder who might win?" Tamamo asked knowing her brother was a good dancer but seeing how confident his friend was he may as well.

"I'm betting Ren with kick Fearless leader ass! His a master at this game!" Nora stated with confidence with a nod, no doubt in her mind that Ren would come out on top.

"Now Nora we can't count Jaune out, he has mentioned he knows how to dance and he seams just as familiar with this as Ren does." Pyrrha added herself not wanting Nora to dismiss Jaune's chances.

 _ **BOTH DANCER READY?!**_

 _ **BEGIN!**_

All the girl's eyes turned to see both Jaune and Ren get ready, their legs bracing to move as a techno beat started to blast from the machine soon followed by a stream of arrows causing both boy's feet to become blurs, perfects flashing in both sides of scream as the number of correct inputs quickly rose. The girls could only watch on in awe and excitement as they went match for match, never once stopping even as the tempo of the some changed, neither boy seamed to be able to make a mistake.

"This seems a bit ridiculous for an arcade game." Pyrrha stated, never having spent much time in an arcade before so seeing how fast they were going seemed a bit off.

"Most game in the large kingdoms have a Huntsmen mode nowadays, the use of Aura is a bit unfair for the common folk so they stated adding harder modes to better balance for those with Aura. Tamamo casually lectured getting a node from the champion as they continued to watch in silence.

The song lasted almost 5 minutes and as the final arrow past the screen both Jaune and Ren started to pant from slight exhaustion and excitement as they waited to see the result. When they finally showed up both, along with the girls couldn't help but be shocked at what happened.

"Oh my."

"NO WAY!"

"Wow…"

 _ **DOUBLE PERFECT**_

Both had managed to hit every arrow making it a draw leaving the group in silence at the ridiculousness of it happening.

After a few moments at looking at the screen and each other Ren and Jaune let out a laugh each before turning to the 3 females with smile.

"So, what should we play next?"

 **How do I look?**

A cloud of death hung over the head of Ren and Jaune as they sat outside a large changing room where the sound of their partners and Jaune's older sister could be head whispering to each other. The two males of team JNPR were slowly going instance as they had spent the last few days shopping with the girls and it had drained their wills. Their current location was just another in a line of stores they had been forced to enter and as such didn't pay much attention to what the store was about but they soon wished they did, so that they could have prepared for what was to come.

The quick rustle of curtain drew their blank gaze as a grinning Tamamo quickly stepped out of the changing room where Nora and Pyrrha were, her fox like grim causing a shiver to run down both males back as her eyes glanced at the two.

"Eye's up boy, me and the girls have noticed you have been a bit down with all this shopping so we desired to give you both a little treat." Tamamo started getting both guys attention.

"What kind of 'treat'?" Jaune cautiously asked seeing the mischievous look in his sisters' eyes. His question wasn't answered as Tam released a small giggle before moving to look inside the changing room.

"Ready when you two are~." She purred before retreating back out. Jaune and Ren were still wondering what was happening but their question was soon answered as their confused faces quickly flushed red when the curtain was drawn allowing them to see their partners new cloths.

"So? How do we look?" Pyrrha asked with a smile, Nora nodding and smiling herself as they waited for their opining but all they got were the stuttering squeaks from the two males. The reason for this was due to both girls being dressed in mistralian dresses know as qipaos. Nora was pink in colour while Pyrrha was Red respectively, with both having while detailing and gold edgings. The other difference for the two was that Nora had to hair buns, long white gloves and thigh high stockings on while Pyrrha had no stocking with only one glove which was brown along with a golden bracelet on her other arm. Both girls' outfit were quite sliming and formed around their bodies along with showing skin with both having a window for some cleavage to show with Nora's being a heart in shape and Pyrrha showing her whole collar off, and lastly was the large slit along their left leg allowing them to see their leg up to their waist.

Both males were frozen, unable to think as they eyes were glued to their partners who look at the two expectantly. Both could feel they hearts swell with happiness at seeing the boy's dumbstruck expressions.

"I see you both like these ones so let's move onto the next one." Tamamo's voice cut through the silence getting the teams attention. While Nora and Pyrrha gave a nod of agreement before turning back into the room to get changed again, Ren and Jaune just looked at Tam with both fear and excitement.

"Next one?" they both dumbly asked getting a mischievous laugh from Tam who looked at them with a smug smile.

"Yep, we got a few more to go~." She answered get them to look toward the curtain in silence, waiting to see what the next outfits were.

A few minute later the curtain was drawn again and like before the boys froze with mouths gaping. This time both girls were dressed in frilly maid outfits in their respective colour, Nora's also had a green bow around her waist and a maid cap on her head while Pyrrha's had more frilly edging. Each girl gave a quick twirl to show off the outfit, enjoying how red each boys face was becoming at the extra thigh the action hand shown. The could see why Tamamo like to tease people so much, it was quite funny.

After a few more moment of allowing them to take the to girls in they once again retreated into the changing room allowing moth guys to release a breath as their hearts raced seeing their partners in such clothing, both finding them to be extremely cute in the maid outfit and beutiful in the qipaos. They were enjoying the show quite a lot but neither had the guts to voice their opinion, afraid of what might come out of their mouths.

"Oh, my~" Tamamo's voice said as the curtain drew once more showing the girls in their third outfit and when the boys saw this on both instantly turned red as steam shot out their ears. While both males could agree the girls were very attractive in the last two cloths, these ones were down right sexy. Each girl was dressed in a strapless one piece in their colour along with a bow tie and their legs were covered in dark leggings with a frilly thigh band on their right leg. Nora also hand on a small white jacket and filly arm band while Pyrrha had on her red sash as well as a golden band on her arm and to top the outfit of were a pair of while rabbit ear.

Both girls couldn't help but blush themselves at the guys reaction given how compared it the other to outfits these once are a lot more daring.

"I think we may have broken them." Tamamo stated as she watched on with a smile.

"I think this was a bit too much." Pyrrha muttered finding this outfit a bit embarrassing as she slightly tried to cover herself, something Jaune found extremely adorable as a small trail of blood left his nose.

"I don't know, I think their cute! Right Ren?" she asks as she turned show ren the small while bunny tail the outfit had allowing him to get a look at her bare back and behind causing him to stare wide eyed with his own small bloody nose.

Seeing how good their reaction was Tamamo knew the next one would be the end so she pointed to the changing room with a large smile on her face. "I think it time to move onto the next once girls." She commanded but until before the girls were a bit hesitant, their own faces going red.

"Are- Are you sure? We can just end here." Pyrrha ask with a slight ply with Nora giving a shy nod but Tamamo was having none of it as she pushed them into the room and followed leaving the two guys along. As they waited, they could hear Pyrrha and Nora try to argue out of whatever the last outfit was but it seemed Tamamo wasn't budging. A few embarrassed squeaks and whimpers left the room but finally the curtain drew once more with Tamamo with her arms around both girls shoulders each who were just as red as the guys.

Unlike the last outfits they only had on one thing, a sweater that went down to just about the middle of there thighs and left their shoulder bare. "Go on, give us a twirl. ~" Tamamo purred as she pushed them to do so.

When they reluctantly did so Ren and Jaune's brains finally melted and as the world went dark for the two the last thing each heard was the cry of their name from their partner and the howling laugh of Tamamo.

The Virgin Killer strikes again.

 **And with that another chapter is finally down, the next chapter should be out sooner than this one (In a month this time HA (joking)) so look forward to that.**

 **Malluk sighing off.**


	13. Chapter 13 - Constricting Shadows

**Heyo, is me, Malluk! And welcome to chapter 13** **of Knight of Hunters!**

 **Happy 4** **th** **of July to those American readers out there, hope your enjoying your independence day.**

 **Look like it did take a month after all, and I'm sorry for that, IRL stuff takes priority over this story, but I'm still writing when I can and planning new plot points for later down the line.**

 **I will warn you all now I'm gonna be 'busy' in my free time over the next month so expect the next one to take as long as this one but that for the end, for now, enjoy chapter 13!**

 **RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay Night is the property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting, only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Please support the original products.**

 **Edited by: M.H. Pintner**

* * *

Chapter 13

 _Constricting Shadows_

"To damn early for this..." Roman grumbled to himself as he stepped into one of his hideouts in the lower east end of the industrial district. He had been called by the fire bitch at a time where there was only a single hour digit in the AM which was something Roman was not happy to wake up to, given how late he spends his nights collecting dust for said slave driver.

"While your complaint is noted Roman, it will be sadly ignored." Speak the devils name and she will appear, her two ducklings stand to her sides as she sat waiting on his favourite chair, a beautiful leather sofa chair he had brought in when he got the place and had quickly became his favourite lounge spot, but he wasn't dumb enough to ask her to move, let alone tell her to.

"Yeah well, you weren't out till 4 in the morning trying to find any scrap of dust that I haven't already stolen or is being watched so hard it'd cost less just to buy the stuff than pay off the guards," Roman complained. But all he got was a snicker from the boy and smirk from the two women.

"Aww is little Roman not getting enough beauty sleep?" a voice spoke out getting the rooms attention as Cu walked into the room a teasing smirk on his face as Roman sent the Wolf Faunus a glare.

"Watch it Mutt." He growled, but all he got was an eye roll from the man further souring his mood. Before he could continue complaining Cinder snapped her finger, silencing the room.

"Now that you are both here, its time I tell you why." She started locking eyes with Roman, "My sources have informed me of a possible entrance down into the train tunnels between Mount Glenn and Vale, and I want you to take a team and check if this is true. If it is and it is stable, we can start using it to move dust and equipment underground unseen, but if it proves useless block it off, we don't want the Hunters finding it and stumbling on our base." Cinder ordered, but Roman was quick to question her.

"Why do I need to do it? Why can't you send the dog to check it out? I already have to go collect our 'items' from our friends in Atlas, which is more my area." He questioned, but Cinder was quick to dismiss him.

"The transaction is already dealt with; we just have to pick them up, and I want Cu to oversee their collection." She stated, but Roman didn't budge.

"Why?" he demanded, but Cinder send him a sharp glare, eyes a smouldering amber then made the man recoiled in fear, seeing her look got him to back down she sent him a cold smile that forced a shiver out of the man.

"After last weeks failed robbery at the docks out comrades in the Fang have lost some faith in you Roman so it would be best to have one of their own leading the collection of our items, when it comes time for the rally we will have you show them off as a gift and once again gain their trust. Understand." She explained, asking if he understood but given she said it as a statement and not a question he knew if he spoke out, he would have a new burn mark.

"Cristal." He mutters getting a satisfied smile from Cinder as she stood to leave, her lambs following along.

"Good, I expect good results from both of you." She finished as her group faded into the dark, leaving the two men alone. Roman was seething and turned to the Faunus to voice his anger but it looked lie the Wolf was quick to go himself, leaving Roman to boil in his own anger. Pulling out his scroll, it quickly started to ring, and after a few seconds, a groggy voice answered.

"Boss?" a male voice spoke, but Roman didn't really care at the moment.

"Get a squad and a Bullhead ready." He orders sharply getting a confused responded, but he was in no mood, "Get it done in the next 20 minutes or you'll be Neo's new plaything, she's been asking for a new one after she broke the last one." He threatened to get an OK from the grunt before they hanged up leaving Roman to release an annoyed sigh, taking out a cigar he quickly lit it and took a long drag of the death stick, enjoying the hit and calming down.

"To damn early…"

* * *

"It's too early!" Nora groaned as her team in their combat gear, made their way towards the eastern cliffs of Beacon. They had awoken an hour beforehand to get ready for their Mission, but due to the holiday they had been spending the last few days enjoying a late morning so having to wake up as early as they did was having an effect on the more sleep loving members.

"Nora, we awoke at a time we would normally do so for class, it's not that bad." Her stoic member stated, having to half carry the girl as she dragged her feet like a child.

"But Renny." She started up again.

"If you would like to say in bed, the rest of us can go on the mission and leave you here if you prefer?" he challenged, the thought of being left at Beacon perked Nora up quick as her head shot up and was quick to start skipping ahead.

"Come on team, don't want to be late~." She cheered getting laughs from her team as they make their way toward the edge of Beacon.

"Are you sure we shouldn't have awoken team RWBY?" Pyrrha asked her leader, when the team had gotten dressed and ready and was about to head to the armoury, they had thought about seeing of their sister team was awake but decided to leave them when they could hear the Yang's snoring.

"It's fine, I'm sure they'll catch up later." He waved off easily.

"True but we could have at least knocked." She muted not liking leaving their friends behind given how excited they were to come along.

"Who cares if they come or not just means more smashing for us!" Nora cheered, giving her fellow female a sided hug who couldn't help but smile at the ginger's antics, while she would no doubt apologize when they saw them later, she would not say the idea of having more Grimm to face being an unpleasant one.

"See? You might act all nice and proper, but you can't deny you like a fight." Nora teased, getting a little blush from the champion.

"I'm Sorry." She whimpers, but this only caused her to blush more and Nora to tease her for apologizing so much, Jaune and Ren chose just to give a small laugh themselves and leave the two girls to their own as they walked in silence. Enjoying the crisp spring air while it lasted, summer was coming soon, so it was going to start getting hotter as well.

They soon drew close to the cliff where they could see Miss Goodwitch and Tamamo waiting, their own conversation happened as they waited for the teams to arrive. When they spotted team JNPR, they soon finished and greeted the 4 teens.

"Moring Students." Glynda crisply greeted as she looked to see where team RWBY was, having expected the two teams to arrive together.

"Moring Jaune," Tamamo said, giving her brother a hug which he returned. "Morning guys." She said to the other as they broke the hug getting a greeting from the group and sending a small wink Pyrrha's way which caused a slight blush to spread over her face, luckily no one noticed.

"Where are team RWBY?" Glynda asked the group getting an explicating from Jaune about them still being asleep, causing her to release an annoyed sigh. "Well it doesn't really matter if Team RWBY is here or not, it just means you're going to have to be a bit more careful but given it was only going to be Miss Arc herself this is still better than nothing." she stated with slight annoyance getting a few worried chuckles from JNPR who could only apologize to their sister team if they had just got them in trouble.

"Moving on, just a quick recap before I send you 5 out. There have been reports of a Taijitu nest to the South-west of Vale which we would like you to eliminate. At the current moment, only 3 Taijitu have been confirmand with one being King Taijitu and the other two being Hatchlings, but the number is unknown, but nothing higher than a B-class Elder might be on location in which case Tamamo will be fighting while team JNPR can take the C and D Class variant. The Mission is classed a C-Rank mission, and all member will be compensated for its completion." Glynda finished getting nods from the group. Seeing they were ready, she gestured for them to step on one of the launchers and get ready to venture into the forest.

"Good luck." She gave the group before setting the pads off, getting a cheer of joy from both Nora and Tamamo getting her to release a tired sigh.

"Children."

* * *

While he enjoyed being out of Vale and away from that whining bitch of a criminal Roman, Cu couldn't remove the scowl from his face as he watched his brother and sister in blood move the new 'items' from the 'Atlas' Cargo ships into their own. While he knew the items were coming from Atlas, they were expecting weapons, Dust and medicine. He didn't expect the new equipment to be 12-foot steel monstrosities, whatever they were, the White Fang had no knowledge of them which worried him two ways.

First was the fact they didn't know about them so they must have been fresh off the production line and even then, their spies would have heard whispers but given no report of such machines were given, their existence would have had to have been on the down low and its knowledge very tight-lipped. Which lead into problem two, which to him was much more concerning. If the White Fang knew nothing about these 'suits,' how did Cinder know?

"Excuse me, sir." A crisp voice spoke next to him, drawing him out of his thought. Looking toward the one who spoke, he came face to face with a middle-aged man with a slight tan and green eyes. The man was a few inches taller than Cu but was much thinner, he would describe him as lanky. He had short black hair with it buzzed at the sides that looked to go around the back and a bushy moustache. The man was dressed in a dark grey suit with yellow trim and polished brown shoes. His jacket was open showing he wore a rust red waistcoat over a yellow shirt with a black tie and fingerless gloves the same colour of his waistcoat to finish the look.

While Cu wouldn't be threatened by a man whose arms looked thinner than his own weapon as soon as they locked eyes, blood red meeting apple green, he knew to be on guard. While the man didn't have much in the way of an imposing figure, his eyes showed a high level of intelligence and malice, he knew this was not a man to test. Cu knew when an apple was poisonous.

"Can I help you?" Cu stiffly asked, while he enjoyed messing with Roman, he knew what the two-bit crime boss was capable of, but the man in front of him, he knew nothing about, he had to be careful.

"Yes, you see I'm a bit curious is all. See, I was led to believe I was meeting with a Mr. Torchwick and from his mug shot, I doubt you're him lest he felt the need to change faces and… kind." The man bluntly stated, showing no shame in casting a glance at Cu's tail that lazily swayed behind him. While a simple gesture, it was taking all his control to not have it go rigid in the face of a potential threat, needing to keep a calm look in front of the man.

"That was the plan, yesterday, but we were called in this morning, and he was put on something else, and I was stuck taking over this little pick up." Cu explained getting a raised brow from the man, seeing he wanted to know more Cu saw no reason to let him know, no skin off his back, so with a short shrug he elaborated. "Something to do with an entrance into the tunnel between Vale and Glenn." That got a reaction as the man released a fed-up sigh as he rubbed his nose in annoyance.

"Well, I should have expected something like this from that little girl." He muttered to himself in annoyance, catching Cu's attention.

"I assume you mean Cinder?" Cu asked getting the man's attention, "Given you got these for her I'm assuming you work for her?" he questions, but the man released a scoff.

"Work for, please. I'd never lower myself to work under the little snot. No, we work together, her being a, newer addition." He finished getting a nod.

"Apologies…" he tapered off hoping to get the man to let slip his name. The man noticed his open sentence and put on a smirk, as he gave a small bow.

"My apologies, it seems I forgot to introduce myself, you may call me… Bishop." The now named Bishop introduced getting a similar greeting from Cu. He knew that wasn't the man's real name, but at least it was something to look into as the two fell into silence as they watched crates be loaded off and onto different transports. After a few minutes, Cu felt it would be an excellent time to try and fish for more information given the new technology being moved.

"Where the hell did you even get these things? I've never seen them before." Cu 'carelessly' stated getting a smug look from Bishop, he ignored the condescending look the man was sending him, he knew his statement would do this as the man clearly understood what it means, if Cu didn't know about them, then neither did the White Fang.

"Yes well, these new 'battle suits' are quite the fresh product and are only just being sent out. luckily I have quite the number of friends in high places and was able to get a few for myself." He smugly stated getting and 'impressed' looked from Cu. Clearly, the man liked his ego stroked and seeing Cu's 'impressed' face gave him some more information. "Unlike the Knights, these new machines are meant to allow weaker soldiers to fight on the front lines, something about needing a more 'human' touch, they were also built with the help of the Schnee's which I'm sure you'll enjoy." He sarcastically stated, hoping to get a rise but Cu didn't react, seeing this he decided to finish." But in the end, they are only the prototypes, but I'm sure you'll find a use for these Atlesian Paladin-290's". He finished, but he was happy to see some reaction as Cu shot him a look at the name of the machines.

"Paladin?" he asked in confusion, getting a nod and small chuckle from the man.

"Indeed. Quite arrogant if you ask me to name your new robots after the elite Hunter core of Vacuo. I'm sure they will have works with old Ironwood when they hear of this. It's not the first time this happened, those peons in Camelot weren't too happy when they named their robots 'Knights', something about them being undeserving of the title, but it's not like Atlas to care for the opinions of others." Bishop finished with a smirk, Cu knew he was talking about Atlas's reaction to the Faunus, but again Cu didn't rise to the bait which disappointed Bishop even if he didn't show it.

"Sir were finished." A grunt came over to inform them, getting a nod from Cu who sent him back to the others.

"Well, it seems our time is over; it was quite a pleasure meeting a man of your reputation, Mr. Chulainn," Bishop stated.

"As it was for me, Mr. Bishop." He returned, getting a nod from the man as he moved to board his own ship.

"Do give dear Cindy my... best regards and good luck would you?" he asked Cu as the door of his ship closed, the bullhead soon rose from the ground and shot off back to Atlas leaving Cu alone, it looked like he would have to send Sienna a new report sooner than expected. It seemed the witch was a lot more connected then they thought.

* * *

"They left!?" Ruby cried as her team stood in front of an unamused Glynda. They had gone out to meet with Jaune's team and his sister, finally ready for a mission but when they arrived to find no one at the cliff they went in search of Miss Goodwitch to find out where their sister team and its leader's sister were but were annoyed to hear they had already left.

"Yes, seeing how your team had not arrived at the appointed time they assumed you all were too tired to join them and went off without you," Glynda stated giving them a chilling look when she mentioned they were late. "But given you are here I assume you were late, something like this is unacceptable for huntresses in training." She instructed as she watches Ruby shuffle in place, Weiss mirroring Glynda's stare at the young leader, Yang watches Ruby sweat under the looks with a worried look while her partner stood next to her with a bored look on her face, but if one looked close, you could see slight annoyance in her eyes.

"You Dolt! We left 20 minutes late because you overslept! Don't forget your leader of this team!" Weiss chastised Ruby getting a groan and small glare from her.

"Ug, I was tired because you got all excited about brush up on history till late last night. Were on break!" Ruby shot back getting into a small argument with her partner as Glynda, Blake and Yang watched on.

"It doesn't matter if we're on break or not you should know these things for when we get back to lessons!" Weiss lectured.

"But it's boring and hard to remember so much!" Ruby whined.

"Please, you can't remember the names of people who created the kingdoms, who changed the very world yet remember every weapon you see down to its parts!" said Weiss, clearly annoyed

"You leave them out of this!" Ruby snapped

"Ug, is all you think about, Weapons?"

"Oh, boy here we go..." Yang groaned out, something of a running gag for team RWBY were Ruby and Weiss getting into an argument about something or another, Yang had just learned to live with it after the 5th times along with Blake who looked at the two arguing with a dull look.

"Do you guys ever get tired of this?" she asked but got no answered as the two were in their own, yelling filled world. While the other half of Team RWBY had grown used to the White Rose pair's arguing, Glynda, who had been standing there watching them was not as tolerate and with a crack of her whip shut the two up with an "EEP!".

"Enough." She commanded, getting a quick nod from both girls, taking a breath to relax she continued, "So? Are you going? Or are you not?" she asked, wanted to be done with the all-girl team's antics.

When she asked that Team RWBY remember that they still had to pick if they were going out or not but a quick look all around, and with a smile, on their faces, they dashed toward the cliffs.

"Come Team RWBY, we got a team, plus one, to catch up with! There all alone in the depth of the forest and it's up to us to support them!" Ruby cheered getting eye roles for the monochrome pair and a laugh from her sister but all of them were smiling as they leaped into the forest below, aiming to catch up with the others, but Ruby was wrong, they weren't the only ones out in the woods, and they were a lot closer to JNPR then they were.

* * *

"Oh, Boy." Roman sigh out as he looked at the large metal door on top of the cliff his bullhead had landed on. The door was over 20 feet high, and 10 wide, concrete surrounded the door with the cliff surrounding it making it almost blend into the rock face, Large steel plates coved the door meaning they would have to be removed to allow access. "So, the emergency exit was placed on the cliff to keep it consoled." He spoke aloud as a White Fang member stood next to him, Perry if he remembers correctly (How could he forget a guy was wearing glasses OVER his mask, how?!)

"I couldn't see it when we flew over… It can't bee see from above." Roman smile, if it was hard for him to spot while looking for it, then there was no way someone would see it on accident making it perfect for smuggling stuff into Glenn, if it leads there that is.

"Does it lead to the subway?" he questioned Perry, who was quick to answer affirmative getting Roman smile to grow. "Alright, then." He turned to face the group of While Fang members he had brought along and nodded towards the door. "OK you brawny men, let's see some of that White Fang strength and get these boards off." He ordered with a clap of his hands. While many of the Faunus there would like nothing more than to tell Roman to shove it, they just grumbled and got to work removing the large nails and plates that coved the door as Roman watched on, enjoying the scenery over the cliff. While he was annoyed to have been up so early, the sea of green and fresh air was a nice change for Vale's brown and grey building and the spell of dust fumes in the air.

It didn't take long, around 30 minutes for all the boards to be removed and to have the door hacked open, looks like there was still some dust to power the door, not like theirs anyone there to use it. With a grinding of steel and screech of old machinery, the massive doors slid open to show a staircase that went down into darkness and hopefully into the old subway.

"OK, If the tunnel also leads to Mountain Glenn, that'd be perfect," Roman asked as he allowed the light of day to fill the tunnel. looking to the side he saw a small map showing the routes for the subway system and followed the 'you are here' to see if it lead directly to their base under the ghost city and when it did a satisfied smile spread across Torchwick's face as he tapped Melodic Cudgel on his shoulder, "Good, good, good." He chanted with a smile as he started going over the changes to their smuggling operation, but as he looked down into the depth of the staircase, the shadows seemed to slither quickly putting the criminal on guard.

"Did…. Something just move?" he asked, but it wasn't a Fang member that answered but the four long tentacles that shot out of the darkness toward him, jumping back he used his weapon to deflect and block the closer tentacles as he tied to see the main body. "A Grimm…" he cried as he did so, alerting the Fang members who were quick to draw their own weapons. While looking into the darkness to find the body his eye locked onto six glowing red eyes looking at him from the darkness and guessed it was the head of whatever Grimm this was. So with the click of a button, the bottom of his weapon opened into a sigh and with another click launched an explosive flare into the center of the eyes creating a small explosion.

Coving his face to stop the dust from getting in his eyes Roman spots a mass quickly shoot out of the darkness over his head. Turning his eyes fell onto the Grimm, it wasn't that large,around the size of a beach ball, a large mask with 3 eyes going down the sides of its head with a pair of small horns at the top, the most disturbing part being the 10 or so tentacles coming from the underside. No one moved for a few moments as the Grimm hissed at the group in which time Roman broke out of his mind first and send the Faunus all a glare.

"What are you doing!? Shoot!" Roman yelled out getting those with guns to open fire on the squid-like Grimm, but it was too quick for the grunts as it dashed out into the forest leaving the group alone in panic for the Fang member while Roma hand a small grim on his face, he recognized that type.

What was that? Never seen anything like it." one grunt questioned.

"I think I've read about it. not like it matters, any loose Grimm is unsafe but this one, you definitely don't want just roaming around." He said grimly getting worried looks from the White Fang, after thinking it over the tunnel they just opened must have been its home and if it was then, it was unsafe for the products to move through. "Get that door closed and shut tight, were moving out," he orders getting complaints, but a flash of his weapon got the dogs moving. He can't help but feel sorry for whoever comes across that Grimm and if they do, they better hope it's by itself, cause if there's another Grimm nearby, their screwed.

* * *

*ROAR*

"Aaaaa yourself!" Nora yelled at the Ursa Minor Infront of her as she swung her hammer around, vaporizing the bear Grimm's head, vanishing in a black smog.

"Nora, please don't antagonize the Grimm," Ren asked his partner as he reloaded Storm Flower. A pair of Ursa cubs slowly fading behind him as he moved over next to his partner who was herself joining the others after they had eliminated their own targets. They had encountering a group of Ursa's, 4 Minors and a pair of Cubs with JNP and Tamamo taking a Minor each while Ren dealt with the Cubs. Each fight hadn't lasted long with Tamamo kicking her Minor's head off as soon as it drew close, Nora was hoping for the same effect with her own, but sadly for her, she got a watermelon and not a baseball. For Ren it was just as easy since he was only dealing with some Cubs, his weapons smaller calibre rounds may have had more trouble with the older variant but had no issue with the underdeveloped new spawns. As for Jaune and Pyrrha, they teamed up against their pair of Minors, it didn't take long for them to finish as a quick slice to the heels from Pyrrha gave Jaune easy access to the pair's necks which, like back in the initiation, were quickly removed.

"I can't help it Renny, I'm so bored! We've been walking for hours, DAYS maybe!" cried dramatically, getting sweat drops from her teammates.

"It's been 40 minutes since we left Beacon." Ren cut her off, getting her to poke her tongue at him which he rolled his eyes at.

"I'd but that back in your mouth, unless you want him to do something with it. ~" Tamamo teased getting Nora to quickly retract the muscle, a rosy blush climbing her face as she looked away from Ren who himself had a slight pink to his cheeks, expression unchanging.

"Leave them alone sis, were almost to the location," Jaune ask and stated, though given his sister knew she wouldn't stop. Pyrrha seeing his reaction could only send him a supportive smile and hand on his shoulder, a part of him knew she was apologizing in her head, but he didn't call her out.

"We are? Yes! This is gonna be fun!" Nora cheered getting smiles for everyone, after a few more minutes of walking they reached a small canyon-like area, a large cliff of earth beginning to rise up towards the mountain given how close the towering landmark was, as such caves and overpasses start to form providing many places for Grimm to take shelter and hide.

"Alright, team game faces. Watch each other's back and try not to bring any cliffs down on us," Jaune commanded getting nods and cheers from his group who drew their weapons. Tamamo couldn't help but smile as she watched her brother take charge, it was a real change for the more shy boy of their youth, it seems Beacon has done wonders for him, and she looked forward to what the 4 years would do for him if 4 months could do this.

"Uh, Leader, is the darkness support to be moving?" Nora asked as she peeked over the side of the cliff they were all walking along, causing the group the freeze. "Or have white spots?"

"NORA!" Ren cried as a big mass shot out of the 'darkness' toward the peering redhead, but she was quick to act as she jumped away, but she wasn't the only one as the mass slamming into the cliff, tearing a chunk of it out and causing the group to jump off themselves.

*HISSS*

Now casting a shadow of the group of 5 as they fell towards the canyon was the head of a King Taijitu, it was black in colour and had a small plate of white bone and red markings on its crown. The most worrying part, however, was that its mouth was filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth around 2 feet long with a pair of 4-foot fangs at the front. As it hissed at the group, a black forked tongue waved out its mouth, tasking the groups fear.

"Found them!" Nora cheered as she looked down to see more heads rising from the large mass, a few being white in colour instead.

"There's quite a lot of them," said Tamamo, want she didn't mention that they all seemed to be matured, she was only expecting one maybe two Normal level Taijitu along with a few Hatchlings, but it appeared that only the C-Class common 'King' types were here.

"Given Taijitu are two-headed with one at each end, I was only expecting 4 larger heads and a few smaller ones but by the looks of it we are looking at 8 large heads," Ren added as he kicked off the body of one such head towards another, peppering the heads with gunfire but having little effect.

"Keep moving! We don't want to be surrounded!" Pyrrha called out as she ran up the body of one Taijitu, they had suffered the loss of the high ground and forced into the Taijitu pit with all four of the Grimm. There was no way for the group to hit the ground as it was entirely coved in the Grimm's bodies as such each person was jumping form Grimm to Grimm, their bodies being the only footing the Hunters had as they dodged any striking heads. "If we get wrapped up were done for!" she finished as she tried to cut into the hide of the white Taijitu she was on, but to her shock, the Miló's edge slipped over the scales.

"Their skins slippery. My blade's not able to cut through!" Pyrrha called out to the others as she swapped to rifle mode to hopefully do damage but it to didn't get any results.

"If it can't be cut, then let's smash 'em!" Nora cheered as she fell towards her own Taijitu, bringing Magnhild down with a crack on the black head only to bring her weapon back up into its jaw. As she beat on the black side of this Taijitu, the other half was being distracted by her own another half as Ren flipped away from the white half after trying to shred across its back, but only a few scraps could be seen.

"We can't cut its body so aim for their eyes, mouth or just the head itself." He informed having fought a younger and smaller one back at the initiation. "Jaune watch out for the fangs!"

"I don't need you to tell me!" Jaune grunted out, Excalibur currently pushing against the fangs of a black head that wanted a bite of him. With a push of his semblance, he was soon able to overpower the Grimm and push the head away, using his enhanced ability's he was quick to jump away, managing to land on a small outcrop to better defend against the head.

"Hey, Ren!" Nora yelled

"Nora…"

"You think their bites are poisons?" Nora asked curiously.

"Considering the size of their teeth, it won't be the venom that kills you." Ren answered

"Actually, only the younger variant of Taijitu have any form of poison to use to protect themselves which makes them more dangerous than the other common Grimm, it's why their 'Infant' variant is Classed a level higher them say a Beowolf and Ursa." Tamamo calmly expanded as she slid down the back of one pair, quickly jumping to another as one of the heads tried to snap at her. While she was in the air, another head attempted to capitalize on her airborne state, but Tamamo simple drew one of her talismans which she slapped on its head, the writing giving off a purple glow which spred over its head. A few moments later, the top of its head snapped into its jaw and continued toward the grounds where it crashed down and struggled to move. That was due to that talisman being made with gravity dust making its head too heavy to lift, Tamamo was smart to bring her better talismans this time and wasn't going to make the same mistake as she did with the docks.

"Damn, this is exhausting," Jaune commented to himself from his spot on the cliff. He had just managed to cut the cheek of the head attacking him getting it to recoil in pain, he had been feeding his aura and semblance into Excalibur and was finally able to cut the hard scales, but it would take a few more minutes until he could cut through and do more serious damage. A rustle of leaves drew his attention to the trees behind him where his eyes locked onto a Grimm he had never seen before, some type of squid Grimm. "What's that?" before he could get an answer the Taijitu head returned, trying to get him while his back was turned but in the same instance the strange Grimm had leaped towards him getting him to jump aside, dodging both Grimm as the squid Grimm fell towards the mass of Taijitu bodies.

*SHAAA!*

One of the Taijitu heads recoiled and release a screech drawing everyone's attention, they watch on in horror as the other 7 heads also started to scream in pain and thrash about, small tentacles from the depths of the body pile latching onto the 4 Taijitu with only Jaune noticing from his vantage point on the ledge. Neither the students or Tamamo knew what was happening as large veins started to bulge up the pack's bodies, white scales turning black around the heads and backs of the white sides while black scales turned white along the bellies of the blacks, the bone plates in the Taijitu heads grew jagged and sharp. After a few more moments the screeching stopped, and the 5 hunters stared up in horror at the now single Grimm.

"GET BACK, NOW!" Tamamo screened drawing the horrified teens out of their shock, luckily just in time as all 8 heads started attacking the now fleeing group. Ren was quick to begin firing as he retreated hoping to detour it from chasing, he was soon joined by Pyrrha who also stated to shoot upon the closest head in hopes of hitting its eyes while Nora stayed in front of her two teammates to bat away any heads that got near. While her grenades would be the best at damaging the heads at range, she was also the best at coving for her team in the event a head drew close and making sure her team was safe was more import to her at the time.

Tamamo's mind was a blizzard as she tried to understand how this had happened. They had been having little issues with the 4 Taijitus, herself facing off against 2 of them herself with little worry while her brother's team handled the other pair, but something had happened to cause the 4 Taijitu to form into a since 8 headed Taijitu, something she thought was only possible in stories. She could recall one that involved an 8 headed snake but couldn't remember the name of it, not like she had the time too as she tried her best to cover the retreating, trainees.

She had been quick to call them back, but a part of her knew it was a bad call. It would take them at least 15 minutes of none stop sprinting to reach Vale if it was a straight shot, but with all the trees and a giant fucking snake chasing them, they would more likely be caught. If they all run, that is.

"All of you have to get to Beacon and get all of Beacon's staff to drop what they're doing and get here asap. This isn't the C- Class Taijitu you were all having trouble with, its high b- no at least an A class Grimm like this and you are all nowhere near ready to face something at this level." Tamamo order, using some ice and earth talismans to create a wall between her, NPR and the monster. "Jaune is running along the cliff to your right, and you are to meet up with him and get back to Beacon while I try and stall it for as long as possible." She grunted as the beast smashed through her barrier to meet a volley of Fire and lighting, causing a few of the heads to recoil at the pain. The dust used for such an effect was of the high grade and would cut into Tamamo's supply but give the severity of the situation she couldn't afford to be careful.

"WHAT? We can't do that; you'll die if we left and you know Jaune would never forgive you!" Pyrrha cried, being echoed by her teammates, she had seen how much the Arc siblings cared for each other and knew if something happened to the other on this mission, it would destroy the other, if that came to pass, she would blame herself too.

"What matters is your safety, so go!" Tamamo yelled as she screeched to a stop, pulling multiple talismans out and launching them towards to Grimm. Some changing into a large ice block, others balls of fire and a few bolts of lighting, drawing the Grimm's attention towards her, she jumped and dodged any heads that drew near. But for a moment she had forgotten one, and it was only inches for biting her, this was gonna hurt.

Jaune could only run with a frantic look on his face, hoping to keep up with the large mass of Grimm and his team his own mind trying to understand what happened." What the hell was that? Did that smaller Grimm do this? Must have, it fused them together somehow, and they're now a super Grimm and are now chasing my team and sister towards Vale. Not good!" he told himself as he watched his team and sister run towards the kingdom, not that the blonde could blame them, but given how much time they had to spend defending themselves he knew reaching it would be impossible. He tried to think of a way to either defeat or slow it down, but before a plan was made, he watched in horror as his sister stopped running and started to fight it herself. "the hell is that idiot doing!" he grew faster and more horrified as he watches her dodge and counter the different heads. His own team firing was on the heads farther away, but it was dead set on getting Tamamo, and sadly it got a chance as one head was just about to slam into her side, Jaune screams in anguish.

"TAM!"

*BANG*

Suddenly, a volley of new Dust fire lay into the head, allowing Tamamo to jump away. All eyes turned to see team RWBY some falling down from the opposite side of the canyon, the sisters with broad grins, Blake with a serious face and Weiss, the only one to notice the new Grimm with a look of confusion.

"Sorry we keep you waiting, JNPR and Ms. Tamamo! Team RWBY is her to... save the…" Ruby began but slowly trailed off as she like her partner noticed the strange Taijitu and found the new Grimm both terrifying and distrusting. "What the hell is that!? It's SO GROSS!" she cried, but it seemed the Grimm didn't like that as it releases a screech much louder them before, most likely being heard back at Beacon.

"You all need to leave now." Ordered Tamamo as she breathed heavy, she had only faced the beast herself for a few moments, but it was all spent trying not to get hit or worse killed, and it showed when they all refused to retreat. At first, she wanted to slap them all upside the head, but when Weiss and Blake mention their heading to Vale she knew they had no choice but to face the Grimm, she wanted to send one of them back to get help, Ruby being the obvious choice but the girl had refused quickly.

"I'm not leaving my team and friend to fight this themselves, team RWBY sticks together no matter what, and same goes for Jaune and the others, I'm not leaving." Tamamo could bring herself to tell her no, those silver eyes shone with such determination and resolve it remainder her of Jaune when he spoke of his friends and family and knew she couldn't stop them so instead focused on support. Firing as many talismans as she could, using stone and ice to block attacks and fire and lighting to attack, a few special ones like gravity and water to create mud and increase its weight in hopes of slowing it down but sadly it had little effect.

"Haaaaa!" Yang being the one to punch first, ask question later was the first to dive into the fight, her fist slamming into one head that was currently targeting Ren but to her shock, she only manages to slightly stagger the head. "Can't get through its hide!" Yang yells as she grit her teeth before bringing her arms into a cross as the head snapped back to send her flying back to the group landing in a slide next to Weiss and Pyrrha who were unloading into another head, but it wasn't being kind and moved out of the way of their attacks.

"How is something this big so fast!?" Weiss yelled in annoyance, having trouble landing her ice dust attacks on the head she was firing on, unknown to her the Grimm had learned from Tamamo's attack to avoid any dust spells and as such was dodging all of her glyphs along with Pyrrha shots who also voiced her unsuccessful endeavour.

"Heave-ho!" Nora tried to cause some much-needed damage by repeating what she had done when facing the weaker Taijitu and tried to smash one of the heads down but unlike before the head only moved a little down, the bone on its head being much thicker them before and thus absorbing more of her worst, "Un-oh." Was all she could say before, like with Yang, this head snapped upwards, throwing Nora high into the air with a scream. As thing must go up, they must come down, and as she began to return to Remnant a black ribbon wrapped around her leg and pulled her towards Blake who had taken the high ground and helped Nora slow down, landing easily, she sent the Faunus a smile and thanks.

"An eight-headed snake… It's like something out of a fairy tale." Blake commented, her location getting her a good look at what was happening. They were currently in a canyon-like area with NPR, WY, and Tamamo currently down at group level firing and defending themselves as they treated north towards Vale. Jaune was on the other side trying to keep up with the group, no doubt trying to think up a plan while Ruby herself ran up the Grimm's body, swinging at its body as she goes but sadly doing little danger.

'This is the strongest, fastest Grimm we've ever faced! 'Ruby cred in her head as she kicked off one of the heads, she had run up in hopes of removing the head, but it seemed their plan of just attack whatever head was doing little danger. 'We need to coordinate our attacks!' she conceded before she could shoot to the ground her name was called from nearby. "Jaune!?"

"Ruby!" Turning, she spotted her fellow leader running along the ridge closest to her, she and been worried when she didn't spot him with his team but given, they weren't all devastated, and it wasn't mention she assumed he was still around and it seemed he had something important to say. "The base! Where their all connected! There's something there!" he told her getting her to look down into the mass where she could see 6 red light of a Grimm getting her to smile.

"I see it, Jaune! Jaune!?" she started exited but it soon changes to fear as one of the heads lunged towards Jaune destroying the ridge he was on causing him to fall but before he could recover another came from below, swallowing himto the horror of those watching.

""JAUNE!""

Before they could try and save him, however, a familiar blade shot out the throat of the Taijitu's neck casing it to scream in pain but it was soon silenced as the blade rotated around the whole neck, removing the head showing a slime coved Jaune, breather heavy as he stood on the now decapitated neck. "That's so wrong…" he muttered to himself as he was tackled off the neck by Pyrrha before another head could eat him itself. "Thanks, partner." He told her but quickly stiffened when she sent him a sharp look.

"Don't get eaten again, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Jaune nervously.

Ruby released a sigh as she fell alongside the pair, happy to see Jaune didn't get eaten, "How'd you cut the head?" she asked him getting a huff from the boy.

"Ever since we started fighting the normal Taijitu, I've been trying to use my Aura to sharpen Excalibur. It took a while, but it came at just the right time." he finished with a smile, but it was soon gone as a sickening squelch noise sounded from above when the headless neck soon bulged, and a new head came out with a screech. "Oh, come ON!"

"Yang!" thinking fast as the new head fell toward the three, Ruby cut the falling pieces of the cliff as Yang jumped to meet them, known what her sister wanted she punched the smaller pieces toward to head stopping it in its tracks allowing them all to land while Yang distracted the head. Weiss and Tamamo joining them as they moved to take on the other heads.

"You are so grounded!" Tamamo stated to her brother who just grumbled, not willing to fight his sister on the fact she wasn't their Mom in the middle of a battle, Weiss was quick to slap the back of his head herself sending her a "Hey!" but was ignored as she turned to Ruby.

"Are you sure you both saw another Grimm in there?" she questioned as they moved away from Yang and engaging their won heads.

"I'm positive, theirs a wired little guy where the snakes are all attached!" Ruby confirmed getting a grim look from Weiss and Tamamo.

"It must be a possession type, I faced one in training," Weiss commented before firing off dust at a head she and Ruby were engaging together.

"I thought they could only control inorganic matter though, didn't know it could fuse Grimm together." Ruby asked Wiess, but she too didn't know this could happen until Tamamo chimed in.

"There are a few Grimm that can attach to others but not one I know of that combines them, what did it look like?" she asked getting a description from Jaune with Ruby confirming it, "a squid-like Grimm with 6 eyes? Sound like a Phobia, but I've never heard of one combining multiple Grimm together, it must it have been pretty old for it to achieve that." Tamamo asked herself, ignoring everyone's question to what a 'Phobia' was. "Never mind that, this makes it easier for us, all we have to do is strike it, and this 'Orochi' Taijitu will come crashing down." She told them all, Yang, Blake, Nora and Ren joining them, each confirming they head the plan to kill this 'Phobia' Grimm, Yang commenting about the small amount of slime on a few strands of her hair with Jaune sending her a hard look.

"Wait, Orochi?" Ruby questioned getting confused looks all around while smiles from the Faunas of the group, Blake being the one to answer her.

"It's the name of an 8 head snake in an old fairy tale, it's said that the snake had a beautiful sword inside its body," Blake answered with a sly smile seeing the stars in Ruby eyes and drool from her mouth at the mention of a weapon.

"SERIOUSLY!? THAT SOUNDS AWESOME!" Ruby cheered, the others laughing at her reaction expect Weiss who looked annoyed.

"Why do you encourage her like that Blake?" she asked but only got a smile and shrug in return causing her to huff out about strange teammates.

"All right you kid's, time to see if you all have what it takes to be pro Huntresses! Split up and take a head each while I give you all support, don't forget to work together and look for an opening!" Tamamo cheered which was returned by the group, with Ren and Jaune grunting that they were Hunters, before once again engaging the now dubbed Orochi Taijitu.

Unlike before when they had been fighting just to stay ahead this time all 9 were now working together in hopes of finding a chance to strike at the Phobia. RWBY was quick to use team attacks with Yang and Blake teaming up on one head with Blake tying its mouth shut while Yang lay into it. Causing it to fly into Ren and Nora's own target that soon suffered a similar fate when Ren was quick to strike their eyes while Nora kept them down with hits to the top head.

"Come on Jaune, got to look cool," Tamamo told her brother as she slapped a talisman on Excalibur which had the blade light up on fire much to Nora and Yang's joy. Jaune himself ignored her as he was chased by one head, the flames on his sword along with his aura enhancing its edge allowing him to land a scorching swing that causes the head to recoil. He wasn't going to stand in one spot after what happened on the cliff and was quick to move away when two more soon chased him, but he was smiling as he called out to his partner and fellow leader who had been lining up to strike at their eyes.

"RUBY, PYRRHA, NOW!"

*BANG* *RAAAA*

Both hit true as another pair of heads were blinded leaving only 4 with working eyes while the blind ones trashed around but to little effect as Weiss, Yang, Blake, Tamamo and Ren pinned them down Nora having been hit into the air when they had blinded the first two but seeing her high above gave Jaune an idea. Turning to Pyrrha, he pulled her next to him and told her what to do as he pointed Excalibur towards the ground.

As Nora was nearing the top of her arc, she hears her fearless leader call her name and turned to see what he wanted but was surprised to see Excalibur floating just below her, coved in a black glow.

"NAIL IT!"

A savage grin grew on her face, and she hefted Magnhild above her head and brought it down on the pommel of her leader's beloved weapon.

"FORE!"

With a smack, Excalibur rocketed downwards towards the centre of the Grimm, but it had noticed and moved a few heads to bock its path, but it didn't slow down as it past terminal velocity and kept going. This was due to Pyrrha focusing and pulling it downwards with her semblance, and while she usually couldn't make it move this fast, Jaune had his arm on her shoulder, his white Aura feeding to her and enhancing the pull of her semblance to absurd levels.

And absurd it was as Excalibur ripped through the 3 heads that moved to protect it and directly into the centre of the massive Grimm and into the head of the Phobia that released a wail before fading away. Soon after the 5 remaining head released their final cries before the whole body started to fall and disappear into black dust.

The group watched on in happiness and exhaustion, all on low aura as they managed to beat such a powerful Grimm but given the glaring weakness, they knew if it were a true A class without a 'hit here to end it all' location, they would have no doubt been killed.

"Weeeee!" Nora cheered as she finally came down into the arms of her partner, whose legs buckled harshly under the weight of Nora's weapon, definitely not the girl herself, and felt the last of his aura drop but as Nora sent him a smile and small laugh, he could only smile himself in return.

"Damn that was awesome," Yang commented as she flicked her hair behind her, Blake stood next her rolling her eyes at her partner's carefree attitude.

"It was a mess is what it was. Nothing like this has happened before!" Weiss yelled, the gravity of such a Grimm existing setting her mind ablaze at what would happen if more were around.

"Don't worry little snow cone, Phobia's are extreme rare near the Kingdoms, this, while worrying, is most likely not going to happen again so soon, so don't worry," Tamamo commented getting a huff and snarl at the nickname. But she was too busy looking at her brother getting crushed in a hug from his partner and Ruby as they made him promise them chocolate and cookies respectively for scaring them for being eaten. "Wiped."

Soon he was released from the two's death grip and breathed deep, apologizing as much as Pyrrha usually did and more until they finally relented and forgave him, with bribes of course.

As the group watch as the last of the Grimm disappeared, they could finally see Excalibur located where the middle of the Grimm was, the blade half buried into a large stone with no damage being seen on it.

"You were right, Blake. There was a beautiful blade in the middle of it." Pyrrha giggled out along with Ruby while Jaune rolled his eyes, but smiling himself as he moved to retrieve his sword. He stepped up towards the sword in the stone and took a two-handed grip of its handle and pulled.

*SHINK*

* * *

 **I Regret NOTHING!**

 **I also hope you all like some of the references in this chapter to famous stories, one that was in the manga and one I added myself, got to go the distance after all.**

 **I had quite some fun writing this chapter, don't know why just enjoyed writing it even if it was based on the Manga quite a bit, but I liked what I added. Speaking off, the names for the Grimm were my own as there was/ has not been any official names given to the Manga Grimm, so I hope you like them. I will be spending the beginning of the next chapter with the last scene of the manga, but I wanted to finish before Friday, and it pads out the next chapter so win-win.**

 **Had a listen to the RWBY Vol 6 soundtrack and its alright, fan of Rising, Nevermore and Forever Fall being the only ones I'm into and with having the worst Acoustic song as it went a bit to ham on the banjo. Overall its ok but it's on the weaker end with Vol 4's only have a few I care for.**

 **I haven't picked up the new After the Fall book yet but I will this weekend so expect my opinions on that in the next chapter ;).**

 **As for why I wanted this done before Friday(the 28** **th** **, finished writing this last Thursday but not sure when I get the Edit back) Shadowbringers is coming out for Final Fantasy 14 and I'ma be leveling my Paladin boy and spending my free time playing that so the next chapter would be seriously started for a few weeks but hay I got a world of light to save and those emo's need my help!**

 **(I'm on EU Cerberus if y'all wondering ;D)**

 **Anyway, let's answer some questions, shall we? (Not like theirs many this time :))**

 **Guest –** I may have messed up the hair colour a bit as the person actually has blond hair, but it's not like you can prove me wrong (edits said chapter) anyway, even if she's a cool character this only adds Fate character but if it was a multi cross over then, yep about right.

 **Mirador Figmentum Scriptor –** Not sure, I don't know much of the Proto world sadly, only the stuff I've picked up on and the cool designs. I do plan to have the round table show up, but I'll have to look into who to have shown up since it's a while away, but I'll think about it. As for the yandere… keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you. ;))

 **RedDragonRevan –** No that's just Tamamo making fun of Jaune for always being surrounded by girls, later on, we'll learn she does this at home with his sisters given how he has 7, and most of them dot on him, but for the pairing, it's not a harem, sorry.

 **NinjaFang1331 –** thought I'd be a bit more on the nose given all the confusion about the pairing, it's my own felt for not being great at writing relationships and such, but I'll try to be more transparent on it from now on.

 **And with that I bring this chapter to a close, I hope you all enjoyed and look forward to the next one.**

 **Malluk, The Great and Powerful.**


	14. Chapter 14 - Know thy Enemy

" **Ahhh, finally got a chapter done. It's been a while; I wonder when I uploaded the last one?"**

 **7/4/19**

"…"

" **Whelp, that's a yikes."**

" **Wait."**

 **'English, so write day/month/year.'**

 **' is American based, so write month/day/year.'**

" **Oh, thank god it's not so bad."**

 **Ok to start off. Hey, it is me, Malluk! And I finally welcome you all to chapter 13** **of Knight of Hunters!**

 **Its been a WHILE since the last chapter, and I'm sorry for the long and sudden hiatus. I started to brainstorm this chapter a few weeks after the last, but a few things in life came up that took away my time for a few weeks, followed with my cat passing away when that was sorted out made me lose most of my drive for writing. So instead, I spent any free time watching shows and playing the like 5 different RPG's that started coming out I mostly stopped thinking about this story altogether for a few months, being too lazy to write if I'm honest, but it happens.**

 **It wasn't until around October, where I started to plan out this chapter again and the next arc as I had no ideas for it. I knew what I wanted for V2 but not if I wanted to do something else beforehand, but I finally started writing again and given today, you can tell it took me a while to get back into it. I'm not sure I'll be as quick as I used to be with updates, but I didn't think there will be such a brake like this again, at least for the next few chapters.**

 **But anyway, I would like to apologize for the long wait and I hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

 **RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Production, LLC. And Fate/Stay Night is the property of TYPE-MOON. I take no ownership of the world and character I am depicting; only the story I have placed them in for a piece of fan fiction. Please support the original products.**

 **Edited by: M.H. Pintner**

* * *

Chapter 14

 _Know thy E_ _nemy_

Cú couldn't help but release a tired sigh as he walked back into Roman's warehouse after getting back from Mount Glenn. Having to drop off the new 'equipment' after no news came in from Roman about the new potential smuggle spot, it was strange as they hadn't heard from him all day. That would be concerning to most, but Cú didn't care if the carrot top got his face ripped off, especially after having to spend the afternoon down in the old Glenn tunnels.

He could only feel sorry for his fellow Fang member that have to say down there for so long; he couldn't stand being there for a few hours. Not only is it dark and cold down in the caves, but the worst thing about it is also the smell. For someone like Roman, Cinder, and her cronies, they don't take much note of the scent, and the things that are hidden in the darkness, but for him and his fellow Faunus? They could pick up on small details that speak of the horrifying history.

The black wall that to the Human would be shadows. To the Faunus, they are dried blood splatters where people were torn to shreds by Grimm. The damp and mossy scent in the air? To the Faunus is the smell of dried blood and decomposed bodies that have been locked underground and left to rot and fester for the last 20 years leading to a horrible smell only the Faunus can pick up.

Cringing up his nose in disgust at the mere memory of the smell, he had to restrain himself from calling his people out of the tunnels and leaving this whole mess behind but not before flipping Cinder the bird. Sadly he knew he couldn't, not only because Sienna was counting on him to spy on Taurus and his new 'friends' but that he wasn't sure who was going along with Taurus or who were just to dumb to think for themselves, like (as much as he hated the comparison) sheep being lead to slaughter.

"You've returned." A female voice spoke out when he reached the seating area, not surprised to see Cinder lounging in the same seat as that morning, but surprised to see her two shadows weren't with her and bickering with each other like usual. No, instead, as far as he could both hear and smell, they were the only two in the room, which he found both worrying and a blessing. Worrying because the only time 'Thing 1 and Thing 2' weren't here doing as such was when they were off doing something for mother duck, which could be bad as he had no way of knowing what exactly that was. But on the other hand, this allowed him to talk with Cinder alone without her shadows getting in the way, and given the few bits he got from Bishop, he hoped to use them as bait and pull up some more information from her.

Grunting in reply, Cú made his way the couch off to the side of where Cinder was sitting, not nearly as high quality as the chair Cinder had but a decent one at least. Dropping into the seat, he 'relaxed' into the cushion, Gal Bolg resting between the arm and himself. Having chosen the end closer to her, he showed he didn't fear her enough to sit away but was cautious enough to keep his weapon between them. Something she noticed given her smirk and raised a brow, but he ignored it.

"I take it all was well with the delivery." She asked with a natural sway, clearly amused at his annoyance with her treating him like another pawn to control.

"Yeah, went fine, Glenn's still a crap hole." He began with little care at his words given her brow fell at his crude words, glad to ruin her mood and hoping to do so more. "Didn't except the shipment to be so large and heavy-duty." He commented, getting her insufferable smirk back onto her face, much like Bishop enjoying his reaction to the acquired Atlesian armor.

"Indeed, my supplier in Atlas did well in getting their new stock as soon as they left the assembly lines, and as you say they arrived, then, it seems all went according to plan." Cinder said with her satisfied smile, her words were to stroke her ego, but instead, they gave Cú a perfect way to jump on the information he got from her so-called 'supplier.'

Humming in slight confusion, Cu but on his best' recalling something' face drawing Cinder eyes, but he ignored her questioning glare as he spoke aloud. "I don't know about that. It was Roman who was supposed to go pick up the stuff, and your 'supplier' didn't seem too happy with the change at first," he said. Causing Cinder to give her full attention before locking eyes with her and giving a carefree shrug, "said some not so polite stuff about you not informing him, but in the end, it doesn't matter." He waved off, knowing Cinder was a person of pride and ego, and to hear someone spoke poorly of her behind her back, she would be unamused.

"I'm sorry, who was it who said this?" she asked sternly, not seeing the smirk twitch onto the other side of Cú mouth.

"Don't know, middle-aged, black hair and tanned skin. Wore a grey suit and had one hell of a bushy mustache." He paused, letting the information sink and take a breath.

"Watts." Cinder muttered quietly to herself as he took a breath, most likely speaking his name subconsciously, but with his hearing, Cú was able to hear and get a nice piece of information. He had purposely chosen to leave out Bishop's, now known as Watts, name in hopes of getting her to slip since as far as she knows, he didn't get any name from the man, but now Cu had something he could dig up.

"Called himself, Bishop, said he worked with you and not under you, which was odd to me." He continued without a beat, distracting her from her slight slip of a name, which he accomplished, given her annoyed scowl at his words.

"Bishop, while useful, tends to think himself above those around him, unsurprising coming from an Atlas born, as I'm sure you know." She said, getting a nod from him, but he still wanted to see how far he could push her.

"Funny, he said something like that about you. I think it was, and I'm just quoting here, 'a snot-nosed brat'?" he stated as a question, and given the orange flames that licked at her eyes, she was not too happy to hear it.

"I see, I'll be sure to 'discuss' this with him when we next meet after my time in Vale ends." She stated, glaring off into space, clearly imaging burning Bishop's mustache off along with the rest of his face.

"Sounds like you two don't get along, how did you end up working with him if you don't like him?" He asked, pulling her out of her 'death dream,' and back to the world, she sends him a small smirk thought it was a bit more strain than before, but he didn't point it out.

"As much as I'd like to remove him, he is too useful of an asset for my operation's in Vale to allow doing so. Why do you think I put up with Roman's complaining along with Mercury and Emerald's bickering?" a rhetorical question, but he nodded to in understanding.

"I hear you. Get people like that in the fang; you just wanna cut their head off for the silence it would bring, but know you can't since it wouldn't go over well with the others." He stated, getting a nod in return.

"Indeed, after all, what's a queen without pawns to use to your advantage?" That was the second time chess and been brought up today with both Cinder and Watts. It might not be a bad idea to look into any groups that might have use chess as a calling card, or if anyone used a piece as an alias before. One more reference would be a good conformation, so Cú went about asking if Cinder was the 'Queen' in this case. But before he could, the doors opening drew both his and Cinder's attention, and both were shocked. Most of all, confused at what they saw.

Roman had returned from his trip to wherever the Subway entrance was, and while at first confused as to why Roman wasn't back before him, it was clear something had happened. As Roman's 'immaculate' suit was ruffled and hanging off his frame, the pure white coat was covered in soot and burn marks along with his face and signature hat that was barely hanging on his head. He ignored the looks Cú and Cinder were sending him as he dropped into the seat next to Cú. Not caring as he pulled at a crooked cigar and lit it with a broken match, taking a significant drag before releasing the smoke with a deep sigh. Finally, turning to the two, he just shook his head at their question before going back to his cigar. But not before he did release a small sentence, which confused them both more.

"First red riding hood and now a flying orange, Vale is getting weirder."

* * *

"Cliffs suck." Jaune groaned as he along with JNPR, RWBY, and Tamamo finally finished the 30-minute hike back to Beacon through the Emerald Forest and the cliff up to the school. Given the exhausting fight, the walk back had been filled with complaints from a few members about either how tired they were, how smelly and sticky they were, or both. It had quickly ground on Jaune's nerves, having spent a lot of aura in the fight to able to cut the evolved King Taijitu and then afterward, boosting everyone's aura to acceptable levels to travel back to Beacon. Leaving his own reserve low (for him anyway, Thank Oum for AAA Class aura levels (Arc Absurd Aura)).

"Welcome back teams, it's good to see you all well. We heard a loud roar coming from your direct and were about to head out for support." Ozpin announced himself to the panting teens as he alongside Glynda, Port, and Oobleck stood near the cliff launch pads. Each was holding onto what they could expect is their weapons. Ozpin with his cane, The Long Memory, Glynda with her Riding Crop, The Disciplinarian, Port with his blunderbuss ax, Blowhard and Oobleck with a Thermos, Antiquity's Roast.

"We were lucky," Tamamo stated as the others tried to catch their breath, drawing raised eyebrows from the teachers. Tamamo knowing how dangerous the situation had been had dropped her carefree attitude. Going into full 'Huntress' mode as she stood straight in front of who was Vale's leading Hunter. "While the Taijitu themselves weren't much of an issue at first, even if the information was wrong about the designations of the Grimm. 4 in total being King Taijitu's, they weren't much of a challenge for me and team JNPR, however," the seriousness of her voice shocked the Beacon staff. Glynda, most of all, having worked with Tam the most, it was rare to hear her voice sound so grave, and her next words informed them why.

"A Possession-class Phobia linked with the 4 Taijitu's and morphed them together into an A-class Hydra Taijitu." The cliff seemed to go deafly silent at her words, the wind seemed to still as the Beacon staff processed the information. After a moment, the Headmaster spoke, more serious than the two Beacon teams had ever heard.

"Let's head to my office, I want to know everything."

* * *

It wasn't RWBY and JNPR's first time in Ozpin's office at the top of the old CCT tower. Last week's adventure at the Docks had been a valid reason for a dressing down from the veteran Hunter even if they stopped a robbery. And like last time, the tension could be cut with a knife as Tamamo gave a detailed report on what had happened with her and JNPR when they had departed. Ruby mentioning the few Beowulf's her team quickly dispatched on their way to catch up.

"Lucky, with Jaune augmenting Pyrrha's semblance with his own and Nora's strength, we were able to strike the Phobia which took the Taijitu's with it. After that, Jaune stabilized our aura to acceptable levels before making our way back to Beacon with little resistance." Tamamo finished leaving the room silent as the professors digested the information.

Goodwitch had a noticeable frown on her face as she scanned the two teams, clearly looking for injuries. Students should have never had an encounter with an A-class Grimm at school much less first years. Maybe some 4th years might encounter one on their missions, but that was rare as all A-class Grimm sightings are either ignored. Like the occasional Elder Goliath that might be seen roaming with a Goliath parade or with having a team of B and A class Hunters sent to eliminate it. She thanked Oum; none of her students were injured and that it wasn't an actual A-class.

Port was uncharacteristically quiet and stone-faced, while the student body and a few of the younger Hunters saw him as an old windbag and blowhard. In reality, he was one of if not the oldest active-duty Hunter on Remnant, being over 70 years old, having been born a few years after the Great War. Aura does wonder for the bones.

He had seen a lot in his long life both as a Huntsmen and during the Faunus Rights Revolution some 55 years ago. Barely 20 years old at the time, he had fought for the rights of Faunus alongside many others and after 5 years, won. But with how low the population was after the Great War and the Revolution, the age of the average Hunter graduate was lower with those graduating at 17 instead of 21 like it is nowadays. As such many died young with all the negativity, the two wars generated. It wasn't until 40 years ago when Mount Glenn was finished, did the Hunter curriculum change to give more aspiring Hunters more time to learn and grow.

Port was one of the first new staff at Beacon, the now, Secondary Hunter school, while places like Signal and Pharos were open to cover the old 12 to 17 age range to better build trainees' foundations and life skills. Math, English, Science, Sparing classes, weapon craft, and care, etc.

While the secondary schools coved the more important and crucial topics like Grimm studies, History, Survival 101, Team Leading and Tactics, and Combat class for both Grimm and personnel. He had even taught Ozpin, who had been one of the first to ever pass Beacon at 21 and was there when he was made Headmaster only 6 years later after the tragedy at Mount Glenn. Being one of the few surviving Hunter who lead the civilians to Vale through the subways. His act of Valour and the death of the old Headmaster got him the seat as the 2nd and a much younger Headmaster at the time, and Port had no problem with it. He was only more determined to stop something like Mount Glenn from happening. To hear an A-class Grimm was so close to Vale, something he hasn't seen since Mount Glenn greatly worried the old teacher, but he was joyed to see the student were unharmed.

Oobleck was the most vocal of the teachers, muttering to himself about what had happened and trying to figure out how such a Grimm showed up near Vale and how it wasn't spotted sooner. While his main field of study is history being one of the leading archaeologists on Remnant. He was also just and interested and studied in other fields, one being Grimm studies. It's one of the reasons he and Peter got along so well even if Oobleck is over 3 decades younger them the man, even a student of his. Peter had been a trove of knowledge on both history and Grimm studies, having lived through a lot of it with the Faunus revolution and post-war Grimm boom. He and Port quickly become Hunter partners once he had graduated and practically became his assistant teacher until he was hired at Beacon fully a few years later. But after going over all his knowledge, he was still annoyed they had missed something both dangerous and rare like a Phobia.

Ozpin had remained stone-faced throughout Tamamo's report, not even a twitch since he had sat down on the chair. While most would have not been unnerved by this, the fact he had not moved at all meant his beloved mug had remained full and untouched left many uneasy. It was normal to see the man take a sip every few minutes or so, but it had remained full and going cold on his desk for over 15 minutes now and looked to be staying that way.

Finally, the relatively silent room was broken when Oobleck released an annoyed groan as he tried to pull his hair out, "HOW COULD THIS HAPPENED!? A POSSESSION-TYPE GRIMM?! Their so rare, and so much is still unknown about them! You got to see its behavior, witness the mechanism of its parasitic prosses! If I had known we might encounter one, we would've accompanied you to collect data on it. WHAT A MISSED OPPORTUNITY!" the doctor cried as the room looked at the doctor weirdly, seeing his friend lose his mind cause a bellowing laugh to come from Port, also weirding the room out more as Glynda slapped her forehead in irritation. Ozpin himself finally reaching for his mug and took a sip, unbothered by the now cold beverage.

Finally stopping his laugh Port sent the two teams a pleasant smile, "You all seem to have had quite a valuable experience so early in your Huntsmen Careers." he stated as he moved forward to pat Jaune on the shoulder, quite heavily given how his shoulder sank under the 'pat.' The sound of his shoulder cracking, causing the others to wince in pity. "It must have been a daunting task." He started getting a hurried nod from the group as Jaune twitched under the man's grip.

"Oh, yeah, I guess. Hehe." Ruby awkwardly laughed as she watched Jaune with worry, hoping his aura was still high enough to withstand Port's consulting hand.

Not notice Jaune's or his students distressed faces he gave her a short nod and Jaune one last 'pat' (the whimper of pain from Jaune sounded quite pitiful to his friend's ears, like a wounded animal), "You should all get some rest. Maintaining yourselves is an important part of being a Huntsmen or Huntress." He finished not noticing the even more awkward laughs his words got as Ruby and Pyrrha consulted Jaune, who was holding his shoulder. Tears licking the corner of his eyes, and his lips pressed together tightly, trying to keep up a resolved front, and failing.

"Don't worry, professor. After today, I think we're all going to be enjoying the rest of the holiday to relax." Pyrrha stated, getting nods all round. Both Nora and Yang appeared to be asleep, with Nora leaning against Ren, snoring away before he nudged her getting a startled "SLAKOTH!" as she realized they were still in Ozpin's office and sending him a sheepish smile and shrug as he rolled his eyes at her antics. Yang was a bit better, somehow with her eyes still open, but the sleep bubble from her nose and vacant eyes showing she was asleep. Her own partner nudging her and causing it to pop and getting her to jump slightly, sending the hidden cat a glare with only got a smirk in return.

"While I would like nothing more than a warm shower, I'm more curious about this 'Phobia' you keep mentioning. I've fought against a possession-type grim before, but I only thought they could do so to an inanimate object, not other Grimm?" Weiss questioned, not noticing she had reached up to the underside of her scar as she spoke, the others noticed but were also curious as the room went silent once more. Looks past between the teacher as they debated if to talk about it to first years, soon though their eyes landed on Ozpin, who, after a moment, locked eyes with the Grimm studies teacher and gave the nod. One that Port returned as he faced the student, a serious look on his face once again.

"As I'm sure most of you know when it comes to our knowledge on Grimm we are sadly quite lacking in that department when it comes to how they work and evolve, it part of the reason why my lesson is mostly on ways to dispatch and counter Grimm instead on why and how they come to be." Port began getting looks of realization from the group, it somewhat explained why he spent most of his time recalling his battle against the Grimm, it wasn't to just inflate his ego but show them how he had to deal with Grimm when he was more active.

Port continue as he started to pace like he did in his lessons, but this time he kept his eyes on the teen instead of going into his own little world, "Even as old as the Human and Faunus are what we know about the Grimm are only theoretical in nature since when a Grimm dies their corpus dissolves meaning we are unable to study them, it's hard for us to understand how they work. One way we can understand them is that Grimm change as they grow older and more experienced." Everyone was now paying attention, even Oobleck had stopped his small rant as he listened to Port's lecture.

"This is where the Ranking system comes from, by looking at the appearance and how Grimm act in the wild, we can determine the threat level of Grimm. Though keep in mind that the ranking is for just a single Grimm, meaning a normal Beowolf might only be a D-class Grimm, a pack of 5 or more might be seen as a C-class threat. Its why you are only allowed to go on missions without a professional Huntsmen in your second year since that is when you will be given a C-class license." The group could only nod at this, while a few missions could be done close to the Kingdom by first years, they are officially classed as D-rank Hunters. Back in the Primary Schools in the latter half of the curriculum, if they could continue into the Huntsmen courses, they got an E-rank pass, which basically allowed them to start carrying their weapons in public, but not much else. Before this, they had to carry them in cases between home and school, which sucked for most. It was only until the second year when they got a C-class license could one be classed as a Hunter or Huntress, with E and D being the training wheels of licenses, C still under the direct care of a schooling body with B being the norm for a Graduate and up. A-Class for those who have completed enough missions or lived long enough to be classed as veterans in the field and finally those few who reach S-Class by going above and beyond like Ozpin during the fall of Mount Glenn.

"While it's nice to learn all this, what does this have to do with the Phobia?" Blake questioned, trying to understand why Professor Port wanted to go over the basics with them again; they had covered this with Ruby during the first few weeks to help her catch up like they had promised, so even she knew all this. Port seeing, he was beginning to ramble locked eyes with Professor Oobleck, who, after a moment, stepped forward, seeming to take over the lecture.

"The reason Port felt the need to remind you all of this is due to the fact the Phobia is somewhat of an enigma and curious topic in the Huntsmen community." He became his voice slow and serious compared to his quick rambling type of teaching, shocking the group, but he ignored this as he continued. "You see, while it is known Grimm evolve and grow over time like most creatures, one subject that is debated is how they sustain themselves. While it is known Grimm sometimes fight over territory with other wildlife like wolfs and bears, as far as we know, the Grimm don't actually eat anything." This somewhat shocked the group as they had expected that the Grimm must feed on other animals like most predators, but when they thought about it, how do Grimm like Goliath's sustain themselves given how large they grow? Seeing the questions begging to slips out, Oobleck raises his hand to stop them as he continues.

"I don't know why this is, but there is a theory that is the most widely accepted in the community, and it has to do with the fact that the only other creates the Grimm seem to hunt are Humans and Faunus. Can anyone tell me what it is that draws the Grimm the most? The one thing above all else that they 'hunger' for?" The students tensed at his words, their minds racing to find the answer, it was Ren who was the first to find the answer which was to be expected given the nature of his semblance.

"Emotion." He drew the eyes of the room are he look at his hand, which, unlike the rest of him, seemed to lose its color, confusing team RWBY but getting JNPR's eyes to widen in understanding. "Or to be more accurate, Negativity." Oobleck nodded at this as Ren locked eyes with him.

"Correct Mr. Ren, if there is one thing we know for certain about the Grimm, it's that they are ravenously drawn to feelings of the negative nature, hate, rage, longing, despair, and more. It was this very fact that started the Great War almost 90 years ago." The room was somber at this when it came to light Grimm were drawn to emotions, the kingdoms of Mantel and Minstrel decided the best way to counter this was to not emit them at all, that locking emotions away was the best way to fight the Grimm. The king of Vale disagreed, as did the kingdom of Vacuo when Mantel and Minstrel threatened them into joining, luckily this backfired. Jaune was the one to have the biggest reaction to this as his fists tightened to extreme levels, worrying Pyrrha and Ruby who were sat next to him after Port's 'counseling,' seeing their worry he relaxed and sent them both reassuring smiles and shaking his head to wave their worry off.

"The reason this is brought up is that the leading theory is that the Grimm somehow feed off our negative emotions and use it to grow and evolve. Where the Phobia comes in all this is that as far as we can tell from the few sightings we have had of it, unlike the rest of its kind, it doesn't evolve; it stays the same no matter how old it gets." This confused them as if it didn't evolve, what did it do? Something Weiss pointed out with a shaky voice.

"So, what does it do with the… energy if not to evolve?" she asked, but the grim look on her and the other's faces meant most of them had an idea, one Oobleck grimly confirmed.

"We believe that the Phobia stores this energy instead of using it and then when it gathers enough attaches itself to another Grimm and acts as somewhat of a booster, casing rapid evolution on its host. Or in this care, the mutation and combination of multiple of the same type." This scared the group to know such a Grimm existed, and a few voiced this, but after a moment, a crack was heard silencing the students as Glynda held her whip in hand.

"Calm yourselves, students, while this can be distressing. This was something you were all going to be learning over the first few years at Beacon, so learning of it early doesn't change much, the fact is Phobia's are extremely rare, and it is even rarer for one to live long enough to do what this one did. Rest assured, the chances of this happening again at this level are very slim." Her words seemed to calm the students, but a feeling of uneasiness was still in the air.

"If it was so rare for this to happen, how did it then?" Jaune asked aloud, getting everyone to start thinking the same, it took a few moments before Ozpin spoke for the first time since asking Tamamo to start her report.

"Mount Glenn." This drew the room's attention as the Headmaster continued, ignoring Port's worried face having been they're with Ozpin at the time and knowing it's something Ozpin has conflicted feelings for. "There are many tunnels that lead from Vale to the old settlement, and with all the negativity in the area. What most likely happened is the Phobia was nesting in the tunnels when the disaster happened and gathered up a large amount of negativity and found it's way close to Vale through the old subway system and exited through on of the old serves entrances where you were unfortunate to come across it," he explained but soon after sent the two teams a smile. "But fortunately you were able to stop it before it got to Vale and for that congratulations are in order. Expect to be getting a bonus with your mission rewards for the elevated risk level when your payment goes through, but I think it's about time you all got some rest. Tamamo, if you don't mind taking RWBY and JNPR to their rooms, I'm sure you know the way." He finished getting a salute for the Faunus who had stayed quiet during the talk, not wanting to draw away from how serious it was but seeing it was coming to its end saw now was a good time to raise their spirits back up as she started to usher the teen out of the office.

"Ai Ai, sir! ~ Come along kiddies, time for your bath, and then bedtime! ~" she stated with a pair of claps getting sighs and looks of confusion form the group.

"But it's like midday?" Ruby stated but was shushed with Tamamo's tail, which coved the young rose's mouth.

"Apapap, don't question it, you're having a bath or no cookies for dinner. ~"

"*horrified gasp* NOT MY COOKIES!" Ruby cried as she shot into the elevator, getting a laugh from the room as the teens moved to join her, Tamamo moved close to Jaune giving him a side hug as they drew close to the elevator.

"You ok? Noticed you tense at the mention of the Great War." She whispered to him, she knew why and was hoping he was alright given it was a dark moment for the Arc family, something Jaune cares a lot for.

"I'm good, just sucks is all," he said with a sad smile one she mirrored but with a squish of her hug his smile grew as he returned the gesture, it turned stained as a smirk made its way onto her face when they stepped on the elevator, it turned to one of horror at her next words, spoken aloud and in shock.

"Awe~ if you want to have a bath with your big sister like old times, all you had to do was ask Jaune~!"

"TAMAMO!"

The elevator shut at Jaune's yell and Tamamo's cackle. Glynda could only sigh at her protégé's teasing, wondering how she was going to deal with it over the coming days she was still at Beacon.

"Ozpin." Port's voice drew her attention as Port locked eyes with Ozpin, "You and I both know those entrances were boarded up heavily after the fall, if something like a Phobia came out of one, something must have opened it."

"Or someone," Ozpin returned, getting the room silenced again. "Bart, if you and Peter could look up the locations of any entrances in the area, Tamamo and the students fought this Hydra Taijitu and go have a look for me if you would." He instructed as both men nodded, quickly making their way out themselves leaving Ozpin and Glynda alone with Glynda releasing a worried sigh.

"This is bad, Ozpin. this could have gone horribly wrong if Tamamo went alone or Oum forbid it was RWBY or JNPR by themselves, not to mention this is the third high-level Grimm sighting near Vale, were gonna have to be more careful." She stated, getting a nod from the man who looked into the dark drink in his hand, a thoughtful look on his face.

"A Phobia… the extreme fear of something. What an adept name for a Grimm that can suddenly bring such fear." He spoke aloud, getting a slow nod from Glynda. Taking another moment, Ozpin tipped the last of his mug's contents into his mouth and finished it off, not caring for the cold, bitter coffee, it was much too early for something like this, both in the day and the school year. He just hoped it didn't escalate before the Vytal festival, but when his stomach ached at the through, he felt his prayers would go ignored.

* * *

"Ugg, it's only like, 11 in the morning, and I'm already done with today…" groaned Jaune as he stretched out his stiff limbs.

"Same." Was echoed all around him as the teens all shuffled along. JNPR, RWBY, and Tamamo had just stepped out of Beacon Tower and were all heading towards the armory to get out their gear, then it was straight to their rooms for shower and fresh clothes, preferably their pajamas so they could all sleep the rest of the day away.

"I've taken a few professional Hunts since I got my license a couple years ago, yet I've never been this tired…" Tamamo muted as she leaned against her brother, getting poor Jaune to half drag his sister along, but he couldn't complain; Ren had Nora on his back where she was snoring away, oblivious to Ren's struggle to carry her on his sore limbs.

"The added lecture as soon as we got back didn't help," Yang complained as her shoulders sagged, barely half a week since lessons ended, and she somehow ended up with one happening in her brake.

"Even so, it was very informative. It's scary to hear that the Grimm could become so strong if left unchecked." Weiss added, making the group somber, they all knew the treat of the Grimm was massive, easy to see with how few settlements are out there, but to hear why it was so bad and what can come from it was frightening.

"We should take heart in knowing we were able to eliminate the Grimm before it could do damage," Ren spoke up as he trudged ahead, a thoughtful look on his face at learning the Grimm they faced was an A-class. His hands held Nora's legs a bit tighter at the memory of the only other A-class Grimm he knew, he was somewhat glad they were all there to eliminate it before it could do as he said, like what happened to him and Nora.

The group had finally arrived at the armory and split up into their teams to their locks as they all went about removing their weapons, Armor, and supplies, Ren dumbing Nora in front of her own getting a pout from the girl given the slight panic at waking up such a way, Ren just sent a shrug at her. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Tamamo, who had followed them when they split with team RWBY, all had to hold in snicker at the two, finding their interaction adorable.

A few minutes later, they re-joined RWBY and started heading towards the dorms, light conversating broke out between the group, going over the fight, and what they could have done better. Tamamo taking some joy in cutting down Yang down when the girl started to get a swelling head something she noticed the blond did a lot, she hoped she gets it under control along with that temper of hers, lest it gets her into something she can't walk away from.

"Even so, we've only been at Beacon for a few months, and it seems like every other week something happens that involves us," Blake stated dryly, getting the group to nods as they all went over all the different events since they met.

"I'm starting to think its bad luck to hang around your team, Rubes." Jaune's words drew the group's attention with Ruby sending the Blond boy a betrayed look.

"What does that mean?" Weiss's haunting voice spoke out, not liking Jaune's statement at all. Jaune seeing he had the mentioned team's attention he crossed his left arm across with his right stroking his chin as he gave a loud hum.

"Every time something happens, theirs one of you involved." He stated getting deadpan looks from the all-girl team along with his own.

"No, that's you." All his friends stated, causing him to falter. Turning to the group with wide eyes as he pointed to himself.

"Me?" all he got were nods as he tried to understand it, Nora seeing her Fearless leader struggle started to name them all off her finger, each one like a stab to Jaune's chest.

"The Giant Grimm in Initiation." She began, one finger raised.

"That was the explosions fault, and it's not like it was the only big Grimm. Weiss and Ruby caused the Nevermore." He stated in defense, getting a 'Hey' from both girls but was ignored by Nora.

"The Forever Fall" was next with another of Nora's finger rose.

"That was Cardin's fault."

"He was targeting you." The others cut in, getting him to deflate getting a snicker from his sister, who somehow had a bucket of popcorn, enjoying her brother getting a dressing down from his friends.

"You also damaged Crocea Mors on that trip, also." She mentioned getting a wide-eyed look from Tamamo, who gave her brother a look.

"Wait, Crocea Mors was damaged?" she asked as Jaune flinched, trying to come up with a cover.

"Not damaged, destroyed." Nora specified getting Jaune to wither under his sister's glare, "I don't think we bother to pick it back up after?" Nora asked, getting Tamamo's glare to intensify, but Jaune sent her rapid nods to say he still had the 'damaged' weapon in his locker.

"Weren't you the one to destroy it?" Blake asked, but luckily for Nora was not heard by Tamamo, who was too busy scolded her brother, mentioning how angry their Mother was going to be getting him to pale more.

"ANYWAY, next we had the Docks last week," Nora added, getting Jaune to point at Blake with a desperate look.

"I was helping!"

"Still counts! ~"

"UUGGG"

"And now we have today!" Nora finished with her hand up in a high five, one Yang quickly finished as Jaune sank to his knees in defeat, a cloud of depression over his head.

"Your right…" he muttered as Pyrrha and Ruby started to pat his back in apology, the others laughing at his reaction, it was strange how all the event somehow involved the blond leader, but it was funny to point out.

"Can we not mention this again?" he asked/begged his friends as they all looked away from him, getting him to the sigh in resignation, knowing he would hear about this more in the future.

"Aww, are the mean teammates bullying my baby Brother~." Tamamo teased as she started to cuddle his head, getting him to spurt in annoyance, happy the mood had been lighted given the stressful day. Letting her brother go, she skipped in front of the group and sent them all a smile. "It's almost lunchtime, so how about you all go get showered, and we can order some takeaway, my treat, and watch a movie. How's that sound?" she asked the group getting cheers who speed up wanting to get their showers as soon as possible JNPR's room being called out as the meeting location with Nora mention a slumber party much to the girl's joy and the boys dread. Ren in knowing he was going to get no sleep and Jaune with having them with his sisters.

'ring'

'hum' Pyrrha stopped, however, as her scroll began to ring, drawing her partner's attention, pulling her scroll out. She looks at the caller and a bright smile growing on her face at who it was.

"Want me to wait up?" she was stopped from answering when Jaune spoke up. A smile still on, she shook her head as she looked to her friend.

"No thanks Jaune, I'll be along shortly." She replies, getting a nod and grin from him as he started to move away, neither noticing each other's slight blush at seeing the others smile. Taking a breath to calm her flushed face, she answered her scroll, her smile still in place.

"Hello, Mom!"

* * *

It was a few hours later, and both teams and Tamamo were currently sitting around JNPR's living room. The credits of their chosen film scrolling down the screen as Ruby, Yang, and Nora sat on the floor in front of it, Blake, Wiess, Pyrrha, and Tamamo sharing the couch with Jaune and Ren having a single seat each with all of them in their PJs and a few pizza boxes stacked empty on the desk behind them. Like Tamamo had said, they had cleaned up and changed with her ordering take away for the teens, sat in relative peace after the hectic day they had all had.

"Welp, that was fun," Yang stated as she stretched her body after being in the same position for so long, some others doing the same.

"Yeah, it was! The stuff with the people was a bit boring." Nora stated as she rocked from side to side, sat in front of Ren, who could only roll his eyes at her friends' complaint.

"I know! But the giant monster fights are so awesome!" Ruby cheered as she pumped her fist into the air.

"Of course, you only found those parts of the film entertaining," Weiss stated to her leader, who just poked her tongue out at her partner, getting a laugh from the room.

"After today, it's strange watching a monster movie, what with us also fighting a multi-headed monster," said Blake getting nods from the others. "And with what we learn about the higher-level Grimm, it makes you wonder if a Grimm could grow to a size like those in the film."

"Please, these no way a Grimm could grow to be that big, they would crumble under their own weight!" Weiss pointed, getting some hums of agreement from Ren and Pyrrha, Tamamo, who had been cuddling her tail on one side of the couch, sat up and put a finger to her chin as she spoke aloud.

"Well, a Grimm can't grow THAT big, but I've heard of some being larger them buildings with a Goliath being the most common." She mentioned getting looks of realization from the room who could only nod and think of how much they learned today about just how dangerous the Grimm could be.

For a few of the hunters in training, today had been somewhat of a wakeup call for them, having only face the D and C class Grimm located near the kingdoms. For those who had been unfortunate to come face to face with the more deadly Grimm, it served as a reminder to what they were training to face and the type of danger they will have to face in the future. All of them could say that the new information had caused some fear to grow in them, but they knew by the time they had to face such dangerous Grimm would be when they were graduated and ready for such enemies, so they could breathe easy knowing when the time came to face such Grimm they would be more than ready.

"Well, it's not like we can do anything about it at the moment, just gotta make sure that we're ready if we ever come across anything like that," said Jaune getting words of agreement from the two teams. Tamamo could only smile as she watches her brother interact with his friends. It warmed her heart to see him like this and proved she had nothing to worry about with his decision to come to Beacon. When she had sealed Excalibur she had been worried that something might happen to him since he wasn't in the best of places at the time but watching him be dragged into a small brawl with the 3 girls on the floor over which of the monster in the film was the coolest, well she says brawl. Still, it was more Yang and Nora brawling with their partners trying to break them up and Jaune with Ruby clinging to the blonde and shaking him for insulting her favorite of the two flying monsters. The yelling of "at least he's not a giant bug!" being her main retort to his comment of how easy her favorite monster got its ass handed to it during the film. Jaune's partner failing to pull Ruby off of him while Weiss chose to ignore them all and go to retrieve a drink but the muttering, she could pick up from her proved she wanted to say something but didn't.

"Come now, Ruby, I'm sure Jaune didn't mean to offend you." Pyrrha pleaded as she tried to pull Ruby away from Jaune, the younger girl was hanging from the blondes back as she lightly pulled on his hair. Jaune himself trying to pull her legs from around his chest.

"NEVER! How dare he call my flying demon dino a weakling, he destroyed a whole town with the flap of his wings alone! His WINGS!" Ruby cried, sinking her teeth into Jaune's scalp, causing him to yelp before Pyrrha almost pulled her off, but sadly Ruby still held onto the boy. "and then he dared to say the damn Moth was better? LIES!"

"I thought the Moth was cute," Pyrrha muttered to herself, but sadly Ruby heard, gasping in shock and looking to Pyrrha with betrayal.

"What?! How could you like her better?! You were my crimson comrade! My scarlet sister! How could you betray me?!" Ruby dramatically cried, throwing her head back and slapping the back of her hand on her head as if to faint, sadly for Jaune, the girl's legs still locked around him, even now when he was starting to use his semblance.

'Damn, what does Ruby do for training? I know she needs strong legs for her semblance, but this is ridiculous!'

Pyrrha, unable to keep the small smile off her face at the younger girls' antics, looked away. "I'm sorry," she muttered before facing her with a determined expression, "But I must support my leader, no matter his taste in Giant monsters."

"So... its treason then…" Ruby 'sinisterly' muttered. Her red bangs hiding her eyes before a cry of "BENZIE!" and a poof of petals, the girl, had tackled Pyrrha, freeing Jaune but now being wrapped around the champion. Sadly for Ruby, Pyrrha was a renowned fighter and not a brother who had been the target of 7 sisters and was quickly overpowered and trapped in turn by the champion who had her long hands wrapped around Ruby's whole body. Locking her arms at her side while her legs were locked under Pyrrha much longer legs. From the outside, it looked like Ruby was sitting in her lap, but really, she was almost strapped down like a chair. Some would question why Pyrrha would use such a hold, but for the members of JNPR, it was known, to the 'sadistic' smirks of the boys and 'horror' of the girls.

"Good going Pyrrha, with the criminal captured it's time to administer the 'punishment.'" Jaune's own 'sinister' voice spoke out as he loomed over the two girls, drawing both their eyes. Pyrrha's growing in knowledge along with a smile while Ruby's grew fearful of the look in Jaune's eyes, the hunger in them causing her to shiver in fear and maybe something else as a small blush grew on her face as he drew near, hands raise and growing closer to her body.

The other in the room watched as the predator Jaune drew closer to the trapped Ruby, with half the group looking on in confusion and slight worry and the others in amusement and slight fear. While the Flower Power pair knew what was about to happen, it took Tamamo a moment to recognize the look in Jaune's eyes and like the others, shivered in fear. For the other member of RWBY, they were growing worried and cautious with how Jaune was moving toward Ruby and was about to move to intercept. However, they were stopped by the others, Ren placing a hand on Blake's shoulder, Nora still holding onto Yang from their 'fight' and Tamamo drawing Weiss back onto the couch, ignoring her "Hey!" and shushing her, "Don't worry, this will be funny to watch." She told them, causing them to slightly relax, knowing Jaune wouldn't do anything bad to her but still curious at what he was going to do.

For poor Ruby, she could only wiggle and try to escape Pyrrha's grasp, but there was nothing she could do and soon started to yell her case, not giving into them. Yelling statement's like, "You'll never take me alive!" and "I'll never tell you were my emergency cookie stash is! NEVER!" but her cries went unheard as Jaune's shadow coved her and Pyrrha.

"Oh, you poor, naive little Rose. It was foolish to challenge my champion to unarmed combat, and now you at our mercy." He began as Ruby whimpered in fear, and the smile on Pyrrha's face grew bigger. A blush also made its way on the red head's face, liking how he said 'my champion.' she wasn't a big fan of the notoriety her fame got her, but for some reason, hearing Jaune use it playfully and in a light-hearted setting made her happy.

"Don't worry Ruby, we aren't going to hurt you." Pyrrha loudly whispered in her prisoner's ear to calm her down, but her voice went slightly deeper at her next words, "we're just gonna make you scream."

"No please! I'm sorry!" Ruby begged.

"Nope!" they both said as Jaune leaped forward.

"BWAAHAHAHAHAH! STOOOOOOOOOP! PLEEEEEESE! AAAAHAHAHAHAHA" Ruby began to cry with laughter as Jaune's hands travel from her neck to her armpits trying to find where she was most ticklish. This was something Jaune and become something of an expert at during his years at Camelot, and that was being able to tickle someone into submission. Mainly his sisters, since all of them could beat him in combat, he needed another way to disable them if they did something wrong, and the best weapon in his arsenal was tickling.

"MAKE IT STOOOOHOHOHOOOOOOP HAHAHAHAHAH YAAAAAANG PLEEEHEHEHSE HELP MEEEEEEEE!"

"Her sides are her weak spot."

"BETRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAAAL!"

This continued on for a few minutes with Ruby's cries growing louder with her weakness exposed much to the amusement of the room. When Jaune finally stepped away, Pyrrha gently unraveled herself and leaned the now limp Ruby down on the floor, placing her head in her lap to rest.

"kill me…"

"You got off easy." Pyrrha, Nora, and Tamamo all stated at the same time, Tamamo looks to see the red faces of the female half of JNPR, who looked back with embarrassed blushes. The reason for this is Jaune has done this to both of them during the first semester. All but Ren have had moments when the rest of the team have had to discipline a member who did something wrong, the whole news of Excalibur being Jaune's, but for Nora and Pyrrha both involved their favorite food, pancakes, and chocolate respectively, each having an incident where their addiction got out of hand and with the help of the other girl were able to hold each other down while Jaune caused them to scream with laughter. Both had suffered a full 10 minutes of his tickle torture, so seeing Ruby crumble under only a few minutes was a bit sad to them. Tamamo was the same, but with multiple sessions under her belt, so many in fact, all he had to do was act like he was going to tickle her to get her started. Giggling from across the room already, it was kind of sad.

"So, that's why we heard screaming for your room those few times," Blake stated with a deadpan look. While amusing the ridicules of what was happening was a bit too much for her along with Weiss, who looked somewhat relieved at the revelation.

"Yeah, Jaune-Jaune can get pretty scary when he brings the claws out." Nora nodded around with Tamamo and Pyrrha doing the same. "Why? What did you think we were doing?"

"Nothing special."

"Being fools."

"Banging."

The three answered with Ruby still catching her breath, but she still was able to send Yang a wired look like the rest of the room.

"What? Nora and Pyrrha screaming Sir Knight's name. Made me think he was putting that semblance of his to _good_ use." Yang said with a shrug, the echo of hands meeting foreheads, the chocked coughs, and laugh of a bomber and fox filling the room at her reasoning.

"Nooo, Yang. I-We've never done anything like that." Jaune stated with a blush, much like Ruby and Pyrrha, "and even then, where's Ren in all this?"

"I dunno, maybe he likes to watch or something."

"OK, that's enough of THAT topic." Weiss cried out, getting Yang to bellow a laugh, even proud to see the ever-stoic Ren blush at the idea along with her own partner who had a slight trail of blood coming out her nose. Tamamo had also pulled a notebook out of her cleavage and was furious writing in it, smoke trails, and all.

After the room had calmed down, small talk had once again started up, Jaune having leaned against the couch with Tamamo playing with his hair while he ran his fingers through her tail. Weiss, having taken the Jaune's former seat with Blake still on one side of the couch, Nora was having the same treatment from Ren while Yang and Ruby lay across the floor. Ruby's head still in Pyrrha's lap, also getting her hair played with.

"Hey, Jaune?" Ruby asked, getting his attention.

"Sup Rubes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did." Half the room answered.

"Shush you all."

"Hahaha, ok, what's up?"

Ruby waited a moment before answering, "Can I ask why you tensed up at the mention of the Great War?" both Jaune and Tamamo seem to freeze at that.

"Yes, I would like to know if that's alright?" Pyrrha added, having been next to them when it happened. Seeing this had gotten the rooms attention Jaune and Tamamo locked eyes, a silent conversation going between them, after a few moments they both released a tired sigh before Jaune stood with a stretch.

"Alright, it's a bit of a family story tho." He started, taking a seat next to his sister with Blake shuffling over to give them more space.

"Oooh, are we getting another Professor Arc class~?" Yang teased, seating up to send him a smirk, Jaune rolling his eyes at his before sending her a dull look.

"Wasn't it you who complained about 'to many extra lessons."

"Aaaaa tomato tomatoe!"

"Professor Arc class?" Tamamo asked, getting a short explanation from the group about the other times Jaune had sat down and told them all something like a teacher much to her humor and his embarrassment. "Didn't see you as much of a teacher type?"

"Shut up, if you find it so funny you can start." He challenged getting her to groan but was too late before she could redirect Ruby had speed in front of her and was giving her the best puppy dog eyes, she could, and Tamamo proved to be very weak to cute thing and was quick to agree. The others beginning to face her as she straightens up, ready to start the 'lecture.'

"Ok to start, what do you all know of Camelot?" she began getting Weiss to raise her hand much to Tamamo's amusement, who rolled her eyes and pointed at her to answer.

"Camelot is one of the largest and oldest settlements on Remnant, it has existed for hundreds of years and is essentially a Kingdom in all but name in the modern era." Weiss getting a nod from Tamamo.

"Basically, that's what most are told about it in the other Kingdoms," Tamamo started getting nods from the room, Ruby rose her had to ask a question which Tamamo pointed out.

"If Camelot is so big, why isn't it classed as a Kingdom?"

"Good question and the answers are the CCT and the hunter schools, specifically the fact Camelot doesn't hold one of the main control towers or secondary hunter schools unlike Vale, Vacuo, Minstrel and Atlas. It also why Mantel in the continent of Solitas is no longer classed as a Kingdom by some." She answered, getting nods of understanding.

"Why wasn't it? if it's so big, you would expect it to have played a large role in the war." Blake stated, getting looks of understanding and confusion from the room. Jaune was the next to talk, seeing his sister did indeed start off, so he decided to free her of the teacher role.

"You all remember me mentioning my family's armory?" he asked, getting nods from the room as well as a small gushing session from Ruby before she calmed down and allowed him to continue. "Well, I said that there are hundreds of weapons in the vault at the moment, but over a 100 years ago it was quite bare, there were hundreds of Arcs living in Camelot with many branch families and the main family." He stated shocking the group, the idea there could be hundreds of people from the same family was both quite awe-inspiring to think about and strange to them, something Ruby asked.

"What do you mean by Main and Branch family?" Tamamo decided to answer her this time.

"Well, before the war, there were a couple of families that would have been famous and traditional enough to have multiple children over the generation. Leading to many members of one family, so the concept of the Main family and branch family was. Like the name implies a tree with the main family being the trunk with the firstborn being that and any other siblings and their children growing off it like branches, all a part of the same family tree but spared out." getting a nod from the confused Rose, mostly understanding the concept. It was only a few moments later, Ren spoke up with a grave voice.

"If there were so many Arc back then to warrant the use of Main and Branch families, why are there so few now?" his voice sent a shiver around the room as what Jaune was mad about finally clicked in the group's heads.

"The Great War…" Pyrrha whispered aloud, getting a nod from Jaune, who took a deep breath.

"As I'm sure you all know, some of the first shots of the war took place on the east side of Sanus. When people who were migrating from Vale clashed with people from Anima who were expanding aggressively into the continent, guess what's also located in that area?" he rhetorically asked.

"Camelot," Blake answered.

"Right, back then much like today, Camelot was self-governed or more accurately it was the home of the Arc family. A Kingdom like settlement with a huge stone wall and giant keep located on the continent of Sanus, not under Vales control. To Minstrel and Mantel, it was the perfect location for a forward operating base and asked the Arc's to join the war on their side. But as you can guess, my ancestors said no, something Mantel and Minstrel weren't too happy with." He started; everyone was listening intensely as Jaune started to explain Camelot's role in the great war. "What followed was the armies of both Mantel and Mistral sieging Camelot to take it by force. With two armies with tens of thousands of soldiers against just a since clan of a few hundred, they expect to trample the Arc's and use Camelot as their capital on Sanus. Sadly, for them, the Arc's even back then was renown for being a warrior clan, and Camelot was almost impossible for them to breach."

"So cool~. What weapon did they use? Did any of them have your semblance? Ifnotoneofyoursisters? Maybesomethingdifferent?!" Ruby began to speak a mile a minute before Yang covered her sister's mouth to stop her.

"How about we let Teach continue and not cut him off yeah?" she asked getting Ruby to glare at her, Yang was about to roll her eyes at her, but they widened for a moment before looking at Ruby blankly "Really?" she could feel the smirk on Ruby's face after she had licked Yang's hand, but instead of recoiling away she instead started to drag her hand over Ruby's face getting Ruby to spurt and pull away from her while she laughed.

"EW, Yaaaang~ Grosssss~." She complained as she wiped the end of her shirt onto her face to clean it to wipe her face, Yang rubbing her hand into the carpet while she laughed at her sister along with Nora, Jaune, and Tamamo, Weiss Pyrrha, Ren and Blake doing a better job at hiding their amusement.

"Don't lick my hand next time."

"She's right, Ruby, who knows where it's been," Blake stated, getting a nod from Yang before she realized what it was Blake had said.

"Hey!"

"Enough you three." Weiss cut Yang off before turning to the amused Arc siblings and sending them a nod, "If you would continue." She said, getting a nod of thanks.

"Thanks, Weiss. From what I know, the siege went on for a few weeks before they managed to break the wall, but before Mantel and Minstrel could finally march inside and claim victory, the Grimm came." This caused the room to gasp, not expecting the sudden appearance of the Grimm to have a factor, but they remember Pro-DOCTOR Oobleck stating how a seize-fire would occur when large Grimm waves attacked the fronts. Jaune saw they had realized this and continued. "While it's known when this happens, a seize-fire would happen until the Grimm were destroyed, but the war had only just started, and the danger of the Grimm wasn't as understood. So, when the Grimm started showing up in droves, the Mantel and Minstrel Armies had only but a minimal number of forces to deal with them, this proved their downfall. By the time they realized, it was too late for them to turn on the Grimm, so they tried to escape into Camelot to get away but in doing so, trapped themselves and the Arc's in the city."

It was a horrifying image, to have such a massive Grimm wave that it forces 2 armies to try and hide and still fail? None of them could imagen what it would be like to live thought such a thing. "The fall of Camelot and the Arc's is the reason why for the other large-scale battles where Grimm waves happened, it was mutely known that both sides would turn on the Grimm before continuing along with the reason Vacuo joined the war. Fearing the same would happen to them if they didn't pick a side and given their part in Camelot's fall, sided with Vale."

"What about the Arcs? Clearly, some survived given you're here?" Pyrrha asked, pulling the attention of the room from such a horrible picture.

"Were not sure how many managed to escape. We know at least one did since one of our younger sisters who's also adopted was able to have a weapon when she reacted during the ritual for a weapon," Tamamo explained, getting nods from the room as she continued from Jaune. "For Jaune, it was his Great Grandmother who survived from the main family that he and our sisters are related to. She escaped to Vale, where she was taken in by the Warrior King and joined the Vale army for the rest of the war, meeting our Great Grandfather during the 10-year war." She explained, getting looks of wonder from the group.

"I take it Camelot was taken back when the war was over?" Ren asked, getting a so-so gesture from the fox.

"Not for a while, with all the Grimm, massive decrease in population and food from the war no one really had the time or resources to try and take back Camelot for a while, two decades in fact. Around 20 years after the war officially ended, our Great Grands and Grandparents use the connections they had built up from the war and the years after to retake the city now more open with more than just the Arcs living there, even played a role in the Faunus Revolution since it wasn't another 5 years till that started, but I think you can learn that in your actual history lessons." Tamamo finished as she stretched and yawned, ignoring the renewed interest at her information, especially from the monochrome pair, but sadly for them, she was tired and wanted to sleep, not like any of them looked to be able to stay awake either. Her yawn being contagious, and everyone echoed it, realizing just how tired they all were.

"Right, I think it's time we all finally get some rest," Jaune stated as he stood, getting groans of agreement as everyone got up as well. The trash was thrown out with Tamamo giving her brother a quick hug before quickly departing, having enough of the teens for the day along with RWBY starting to shuffle out of JNPR's dorm with well wishes and goodnights, but before Ruby left called out to Jaune.

"Hey, Jaune?"

"Yeah Rubes?" he asked before grunting as Ruby semblance charged into his chest, holding him tightly, Jaune was confused at first until she spoke.

"I'm so glad you're alright." She whispered as Jaune's eyes widen slightly before changing to a look of understanding, his own hands circling the slightly shaking girl. He had almost gotten eaten today, and it was understandable to be relieved that he wasn't. However, for Ruby, she was still 2 years younger, missing out on the last of her education and, as such, missed the more, gruesome lesson done in the last year to discourage the last few who didn't have the stomach for the job. Even if he was fine in the end, it still must have been hard to watch. "I don't know what I would have done if you had…"

"Hey, I'm never gonna leave you like that, Rubes, Arc's Word." He cut her off, his sooth voice calming her down. "Besides, we gotta get through Beacon and be the best Hunters on Remnant, right?" he asked, getting a laugh from her as she stepped back, wiping a few tears and sending him a smile.

"Right, right!" she nodded before sending him a smile," Night Jaune."

"Goodnight, Ruby."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Team RWBY will be the best, though."

"Nope."

"do NOT copy my thing!"

"NIGHT CRATER FACE.""

"HEY!"

'SLAM'

Jaune released a sigh as he moved to join his team in their bedroom, as he entered, he came face to face with the blank stares of Pyrrha and Ren, blushing as he realized, they had heard his banter with Ruby.

"…"

"…"

"…. 'snore…'"

Nora wasn't with them having already collapsed over her bed, Ren just smiled and shook his head before heading to bead himself with Pyrrha doing much the same.

"Oh, Jaune." She said getting him to blush more and shrug as if 'what can you do?' drawing a laugh from her as she removed her tiara and placed I on her desk, releasing her hair from its tire allowing her hair to flow free much to Jaune enjoyment, giving even Yang's hair a challenge in volume and length. "Hey Jaune?" her voice drew him out of his head, his blush growing slightly from staring.

"What's up, Pyr?" he asked as she shuffled in place.

"I was wondering if… I got a call from home asking if I would come over for next week of the brake and was wondering if you would like to come with me?" she timidly asked, getting a surprised look from Jaune. Not expecting to be invited to visit Pyrrha home town, "We can ask Ren and Nora in the morning, but I wanted to see if it was ok with you cause you're the leader and all…" she continued to ramble getting a chuckle from Jaune which she pouted at. Seeing this, he rose his arms in surrender as his laughter died down.

"I'm fine with it, Pyrrha, and I'm sure Ren and Nora will be too. Now that I think about it, I never asked where you were from, only about your time at Sanctum Academy." He noticed getting a look of realization from Pyrrha, who could only smile and clap her hands together.

"Oh, your right! Don't worry, Jaune, you'd love it back home." She excitedly replied, getting Jaune to smile in return.

"So where is it you live?"

"Oh! I'm for the northern part of Solitas in an Atlas and Mistral cost town called…"

"Argus."

* * *

 **And that's the chapter! It was a lot of world-building, like 88% world-building but I felt like writing a chapter like that since any work I did do about this story while I was 'away' was all on pre-canon information and world-building, so when I finally got around to this that was what was mostly on my mind, it might be annoying to a few people, but I'm sure just as many are interested in the lore as well(really wanted to call this World of Remnant).**

 **As I'm sure many of you can guess the next few chapters will be set in Argus and I can already hear the 'but why so early?' and 'what about when you get to vol 6?' and reason one is that I haven't planned that far ahead but even then for the stuff I have planned to the most of vol 4 and onwards would be changed so I don't even know if I'd ever get to Argus that way. And also if I do write all the way up to vol 6 (given it took me a year to do vol 1 I don't expect it but who knows) with what I've already changed (see any mention of Arc family in this story) some of the connection to the location are cut with the one still there to be explored in the coming chapters.**

 **I also hope you like the little nod I gave to the recent Godzilla movie, I really enjoyed it even getting all 4 of the monster posters that came out which now decorate my room. Been a fan since getting Godzilla: saves the earth on PS2 and the good old Cinimassacre's Godzilla-thon videos from back in the day. Speaking of games finally picked up cross tag when it was on sale and had lots of fun with that, have played Neo yet since its Christmas soon, and don't have £20 to spend on the V2.0 DLC just to play her but I plan to when I get the change. Also, Pokémon, Nuff said.**

 **Let's get the questions since my last chapter is done, shall we?**

 **fhchshEinzbern-** I'm sad to hear you didn't enjoy some of the early chapters of the story, I hope if you did read more of it you found my writing got better, but I know my story isn't for everyone and I'd like to know if you think I improved over the year.

 **Alucard9257-** It wasn't till I wrote how I killed it that I noticed I could do it and thought it was a great idea, glad others think so too.

 **Gavinelo/** **look2019/tylerbraden13-** I'm glad you're enjoying it!

 **EMIYA KURO-** I'm flattered you think my story could be one of the top stories for RWBY/FATE tag and I'm trying to get better at the spelling, I'll be going back and spell checking for the rest of the year. I'm sort of happy and sad at you picking apart some scene, but it shows you care to bring them up so intensely, and I'm hoping I improved given they were on the earlier chapters, but let me know.

Blake Tourdner- I did kind of base Jaune's power off One for All and a less effective Mana Burst, it will become more apparent when Mordred and Artoria show up later to better compare against since I've only shown Mordred use it one. It was like 4 lines, but I hope to show their Aura Burst off more in the future.

 **MEGAandBIT, we make it nice-** Happy to hear you're enjoying what I've done in the story and that someone finds it funny, and that you enjoy my take of Tam, I want sure if people were enjoying her so glad to hear you do. For if Sasaki Kojiro inclusion, no solid plans at the moment but who knows, might get an idea in the future that's a perfect fit for him to show up.

 **Epicweaver-** Given more Fate characters are gonna be showing up from now on I'd feel better with the tag since it is a somewhat of a crossover, but I see what you mean about mentioning it in the tag if been thinking of changing it for a while so I'll look into that. For the rest, I'm glad you like what I've done with some characters and the story, sorry you don't like the Pyrrha tick, but it's a character thing, and I won't promise it will go away, and we need more sarcastic Ren. And spelling is my bane, and I will try to improve.

 **Fyr RedNight-** Happy to see you enjoy it, hard to think this all started a year ago when I was bored after finishing uni and wrote a terrible one shot, its strange to think about.

 **Rider126/tylerbraden13-** So be it,as you wish.

 **And with that, I think ill leave it there, again sorry for the long wait and I hope it won't take me as long for the next chapter, till then, however…**

 **I see ya in hell, boys, Malluk.**


End file.
